tell me how you will remember this summer
a blister healed,
a dormant powderkeg
set to little
earthquakes, set to
drought and disappearance.
the quick slam of doors
and the sound of fireworks—
how skin has become too
troublesome to commit to
memory, the novel left on
a windowsill to blanch
under the stare of some
unrelenting fireball, its
hunger, impossible to deter.
About the Author: Kendall A. Bell’s poetry has been most recently published in Ovunque Siamo and Nobody Thoughts. He was nominated for Sundress Publications’ Best of the Net collection seven times. He is the author of four full length collections, “The Roads Don’t Love You” (2018), “the forced hush of quiet” (2019), “the shallows” (2022), “all of this bruising” (2024), and 35 chapbooks, the latest being “everything we were”. He is the publisher/editor of Maverick Duck Press and editor and founder of Chantarelle’s Notebook. His chapbooks are available through Maverick Duck Press. He lives in Southern New Jersey.
Image Credit: James Hamilton “Beach Scene at Sunset” (c. 1865-1870) Public domain image courtesy of Artvee
As It Ought To Be 