Arianna Pozzuoli (b. 1980)
SELECTED POEMS
Old Flame
My knees broke into a choir
and started to shake into a song.
Out of tune, they sang.
Because the last time I spoke to you,
I was so angry,
smoke gathered in my lungs,
spreading like a wildfire
across my chest.
Ashes wandered aimlessly,
like a ghost who has forgotten its own address.Today, I saw you in the distance.
The hair on my skin lifted like a graduate’s cap.
When you see an old flame,
do you move towards it or step away from its flare?
I took one step back
and no longer saw the spark.
by Arianna Pozzuoli
from Something for Everyone (2014)
