"Immolation" by Heidi Seaborn

Immolation

In the middle of our divorce
you fled
to Tunisia.

Not next door   not
the town over
Tunisia

            as Arab Spring smoldered —
loosely-packed pine needles sparked
by North African sun.

Could you feel it
walking
through November 7 Square

scattering young men      like startled doves

to cluster in cafés   untouched espresso
and cigarette smoke?

You wanted that, too —

let the match
burn down
singe your fingertips white
follow its flame to my ash.

HEIDI SEABORN

Heidi Seaborn is the author of the award-winning debut book of poetry, Give a Girl Chaos (see what she can do), C&R Press / Mastodon Books, March 2019. She is the Editorial Director for The Adroit Journal and a New York University MFA candidate. Since Heidi started writing in 2016, she’s won or been shortlisted for nearly two dozen awards, including the International Rita Dove Award in Poetry, and published in numerous journals and anthologies, including The Missouri Review, Mississippi Review, Penn Review, Nimrod, a chapbook, and a political pamphlet. She graduated from Stanford University and is on the board of Tupelo Press.

Headshot: Rosanne Olson

Photo Credit: Staff