Feast of the Singed
Vincent Hostak
January 6, 2022
A snow too late to quench the fires
arrived in the new year
brushing across a plain of soot
like the opposite of shadow
chasing a south-breaking crow.
She imagines a place
where seeds still cling to tallgrass,
where the feast is meager but fair.
Follow the long-told story
of a frozen spillway, a cache
filled with the eggs of last Summer’s mayflies.
Take hold and rummage while you can,
there’s a dream beyond the fire-break.
The others too, with feathers singed,
will soon be here to split the crust,
cling to the edge and taste the meats
along the ash-filled strand.
Vincent Hostak is a writer and media producer from Texas now living near the Front Range of Colorado south of Denver. His recently published poems are found in the journals Sonder Midwest and the Langdon Review of the Arts in Texas and as a contributor to the TPA. He writes & produces the podcast: Crossings-the Refugee Experience in America.
