Jessica Martinez
I
turned.
I knew
what I was
doing. The grit caked
at the corners as I called out—
her name caught in my throat. Through the sand & squint, I saw
the sky bend toward those cities, then break into flame. I saw the thatched roof of our house cave
in ash beneath the black weight of brimstone: a past of which I am not ashamed, a future crystallized the moment I let go of your hand.
JESSICA MARTINEZ has had poetry published in Helix, Two Review, Cahoots, Fogged Clarity, The Bend, and Calliope. A sequence of her poems and photographs appear in Mind. She lives in Savannah, Georgia with her husband and twin boys.
