Happy Fourth of July!

 The Fourth of July has always been one of my favorite holidays, for a few reasons:

1. Patriotism.
2. Barbecues.
3. Lighting things on fire.
4. Marveling at the star-like quality of things on fire.

 

Trailblazer

On expendable wings it shoots,

a comet in reverse,

springing from the concrete in a lopsided corkscrew

trailing tiny bits of itself

and wisps of burned-up rocket fuel

before reaching the zenith of its flight

in one final, brilliant spray

of showering sparks,

and

abandoning its doomed quest to pierce the clouds,

retracing its path

to the ground,

now just a fluttering scrap of cardboard,

all the fizzling flare drained out of it

to make room for one heck of a story.