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We Raised Flames
By Kayli Wren
QuailBellMagazine.com
We were masters of sand creations
No cheating with that plastic-bucket-mold crap – We were original Handfuls of thick sand mud plopped through our fingers Rising turrets and twisting spirals composed of hundreds of tiny sand dollops Decorations of seaweed strands and smooth shells that looked almost purple under water You showed me how to drink the nectar from honeysuckle I taught you how to blow bubblegum bubbles before all the sugar dissolved Huddled around the stone fire pit out back We raised flames from sticks and embers S’mores were a bonus but never the objective We nurtured burning embers To see their flickering pulses Red and yellow Morse code Pioneers in the land of pyromania Until the night you threw a lighter into the fire Your mom had to fish it out with a stick We sat quietly as she yelled about explosions We promised never again When the grownups wanted to talk late And said they’d carry us into the car when it was time to go home We would lie out on the porch tucked into sleeping bags Noses almost touching The only lie I ever told you was on one of our porch-nights Not even a lie, really A porch-night fiction And only because I loved to see your smile The wooden floorboards creaked as we whispered Side by side You said you had always wanted to see someone sleepwalk Well I always wanted to see your smile I let you believe I had drifted off Then I stumbled slowly around the porch Peered through mostly-closed eyelids Aimed for the chairs So you could lunge forward and Wake me before disaster stuck I would say thank you You would describe every detail Back into our sleeping bag forts I would count to 60 and our ritual would begin again Every time you saved me from death-by-chair Your hands steady on my shoulder I would open my eyes to your wide eyed Toothy grin When we were thirteen, we almost kissed But one of us started laughing – I can’t remember who – And laughing seemed like more fun anyway So we decided not to have another go at it I don’t think I ever told you about the porch-night fiction Just let you believe But there was the one night – Years after your mom yelled about explosions We were raising flames from sticks and embers I pulled out the lighter stashed in my pocket We threw it in together – I almost told you then
#Unreal #Poem #Childhood #MagicSandcastles #Thirteen #AlmostKissing
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