Friday, August 9, 2024

The Day The Aurora High School Burned Down

midnight sweat 

midnight vomit 

crying and clutching the trash can

no school for me


mother’s blanket-wrapped sadness 

predawn on the front porch

watching the school burn 

four fire departments couldn’t stop the blaze 

what could a woman in a blanket hope to do 

that they couldn’t?


“good news,” she whispers

smoothing back my tangled hair

wiping the fever away with a cool cloth

“no school for anyone”


-Melissa Reynolds

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