top of page

"Twin Sparks" - J. Archer Avary

It must’ve been unseasonably cold,

That late spring evening, when

My grandfather and his brother sat

Side-by-side before the fireplace;

Little kids warming their fingers.

It must’ve been wet firewood,

Sap-filled logs crackling & popping,

Spitting twin spark embers launched

In perfect parabolas, replayed in

Theatre of memory in slow motion.

It must’ve happened so fast.

No time for ducking and dodging.

A freak accident

Swift searing pain

Glowing embers taking one eye each –

My grandfather’s left

His brother’s right.

It must’ve been disheartening

To be the boy with the unblinking glass eye.

Who scared the other children

Or in my grandfather’s case, unable to

Pursue his boyhood dream of flight.




 

J. Archer Avary quit journalism to write poetry. His work has appeared in Little Old Lady Comedy, The Daily Drunk, Plum Recruit, Ariel Chart, Rye Whiskey Review and The Beatnik Cowboy. He left USA in 2014 and now lives in Guernsey. Twitter: @j_archer_avary

bottom of page