Fred Aiken Writing

an incendiary device goes off
in the back,
	no, but don’t look over there,
	it’s rude,
keep staring ahead,
perhaps another cartoon will come on,
or one of those insurance commercials that are so distracting,

the incendiary devices doesn’t 
make everything turn to black tar,
but rather is an explosion of f l o w e r p e t a l s
that look dangerous,
	but really, it’s all bark,
	no paper,
since the incendiary device takes with it
everything written down,
until the words look like glue melting in the sun