Crisp
fire flickers faster
than the time it takes
to blow out the mallow
i’ve burned to a crisp
camp close to the coy cove
let the bait bait the fish
smoke the slab on the stove
Dad said it’s best burnt
don’t touch the
pointed petal poison plants
flicker your flash at black bears
they scatter like smoke
fan out the fire before nightfall
Dad once did it for me
his hand burned a black crisp
the rest to ashes
Juliana Warta is a fiction concentrated creative writing major at Purchase College from Long Island, New York. She first started writing in middle school: mostly short stories, poems and scripts from her favorite shows. Her favorite themes are magical realism, horror, and romance.