Andy Skitt
Revolution
Up four flights,
behind a Yale locked,
chair barred door
I stood in the dark
staring out of smeared and taped glass,
watching the fires
still burning three days after
the initial igniting flash.
I’d not opened to anything,
ignored the shouts from the floors below
and tried to bury myself
against that single scream
two nights ago.
After the first explosion
the lights failed,
my battery radio sent a fading crackle
through the air,
until a distant rumble,
which I felt up through the rooms,
left only a sheet of static
and occasional bursts
of an unconcerned language.
The blasts had grown more frequent,
had flowed then ebbed across the city,
changing the shape of, or removing, landmarks.
Staccato cracks of small arms fire
had brought the Chinese New Year,
a fire breathing dragon
dispensing a contrary prosperity
to those caught in its cross-haired glare.
On the fourth morning
the water turned brown, then stopped.
I unlatched the window
swung it open;
there was a silence,
the smell of fireworks
and somewhere a hint that bacon was frying.
Page(s) 112
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