the siphon era

by KG Newman

Our house with creaking butterfly doors

and what can’t be fixed with a wrench.

Mummies smiling behind the cloth.

Floats of us punctured on the one

streetlight that doesn’t flicker. Field 

of abandoned silos to which only

unlost birds return in winter.

CapriSun straw wrappers scattered

everywhere we step. Remember how

we had something to pray for.

We’d sit around the nicked kitchen table

saying the names of flowers we know.

Daisy. Chrysanthemum. Dahlia to

remind us of when charred forests 

braved storms, and we built stadiums

we didn’t need nor could afford,

just to sit in premium seats and

watch fireflies resurrect themselves.

KG Newman is a sportswriter for The Denver Post. His first five poetry collections are available on Amazon and he has been published in scores of literary journals worldwide. The Arizona State University alum is on Twitter @KyleNewmanDP and more info and writing can be found at kgnewman.com. He is the poetry editor of Hidden Peak Press and he lives in Hidden Village, Colorado, with his wife and three kids.