Summers ago,
On a dark July night
The expansive field was lit by the soft glow of explosions
In the night sky.
One boy whom decided he didn’t see enough of the glow,
Ran out far away into the field,
But he didn’t see
The misfired shot into the blazing grass far away
When he realized a whistling winding whirling missile was before him,
It was too late.
In that millisecond that felt like hours, colors, sparkles, and ashes
Were all around
And when it ended
All he wanted
Was to see it again.

Deep in the backwoods of the Knoxville antique,
The black marble sky growls,
A panther,
To outsiders—those inside city limits—
The vanishing streetlights and,
Absence of neighbors,
May put them on extra alert but,
Here,
The panther’s like a friend
Watching over us

All day long me and my cousins,
Waited,
For the whispers of night to cover us,
In the last few hours before Independence Day drifted
Off for another year,
We broke out the rockets:
Nine-packs,
Missiles,
Roman Candles,
Sparklers,
Big and small,
The show was about to begin

Darting away,
From explosives right before launch,
Cracking up till
Our lungs hurt,
Bouncing on,
The backyard trampoline—
(I think I got punched in the eye that night
by accident)—
Playing with the border collie named Shadow,

We were frozen in a dream,
No person could break up this night,
Running without legs from parents’ rules,
And from mysterious police,
Hoping that Shadow wouldn’t go
Nuts,
Hurt someone

We were all—parents and cousins—
Drinking
In the elixir of freedom,
Caught in the secret
Between
The night and the countryside

The sky is bright with fireworks,
Splashes of color in the dark;
But Inside my brain it's black and white,
Clinical and stark.

I sit outside all evening
Till the crickets chirp no more,
And Sun is knocking lightly
On Moons shuttered door.

Out of the darkness and the shadow
Comes brightness and the day;
And I sit and think just maybe-
I might just be okay.

Can you feel that day a year ago today
As if it was just yesterday
When hope and hopelessness both hung in the air
Like the breath held before fireworks burst into the night
The marvel of the glimmer for the seconds that the lights last
Then the disappointment after at the clear dark sky

But there must be something about us together
Both times there were supposed to be fireworks
Electricity hummed in the air
Because we don't need vanishing works of fire and light
When our hearts are already carrying them
My air above your earth making storms of magic lasting

The United divided
America
Optimism can change progress
Justice matters
Make better and inspire
To be that dream

SSSSSSSS!!
My heart was a firecracker
CRACKLE!!!
And you had lit my fuse
ZWINNGG!!!
Foolishly, I stepped too close to the sparks
KABOOM!!!
And then I was blown apart by your flame