Poetry Pause is the League of Canadian Poets’ daily poetry dispatch. Read “Mirage of Burning Things” by Ryan Di Francesco.

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Mirage of Burning Things

By Ryan Di Francesco

so the house is still there

without me / and all the letters in the alphabet / and

there’s got to be more to it than that / there’s got to be more to it than underground

rituals in waves of light / between zodiac creatures

waiting around the wooden tables afraid of touch / beside shapeless

fires / fragments of a childhood / among branches / under

an orchard tree / in caves / among striped patterns of lilies / in search of animal

skin attached to a popsicle stick / in search of

a chunk of heart wrapped /

in pink sun / rivers / pressed / latched onto

me / them / in the open mouth of the caged / bluebird / egg /

enclosed by dots and letters / by dots and

claws multiplied by faint smells / territories /

of fish / antlers / inside

the ribs of golden / grandeur / inside the ribs of cities

in dust / inside the rib of you / me and the cat licking its paws after eating a cricket

pulsing

in august nights / starved /

at the roadside zoo / reflected in teeth

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Copyright © Ryan Di Francesco

Ryan Di Francesco (he/him) is a neurodivergent Canadian writer, teacher, and editor based in Ontario. His journalistic work has been featured in The Toronto Star, and his poetry and fiction have appeared or are forthcoming in more than fifty literary journals and anthologies. He is the Editor-in-Chief of Shadow and Sax and the author of four chapbooks.

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