William Miller
William Miller’s poems have recently been published or accepted by The Literary Nest, Literary Orphans, Louisana Literature and Clementine Unbound. His eighth full-length collection of poetry, The Crow Flew Between Us, is forthcoming from Aldrich Books in spring, 2019.
Burning Leaves
Before leaf blowers,
plastic bags, garbage trucks,
we raked them as a family.
And we burned them
in an iron drum until dusk,
a weak, failing sun.
There was nothing left
but winter, ashes
that rose and fell
on patches of brown grass.
We went inside,
ate cold biscuits,
greens and fat back,
listened to a small
wooden radio…
Nothing has been lost
except the four of us
in a circle around
quick, orange flames–
the sweet smoke
of an autumn fire.
© 2018 William Miller