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Emily Butler: Christening

September 9, 2022 by PBQ Leave a Comment

On the day of my brother’s christening 

there was a fire at the horse barn down the street.

In the box of photographs, among images of my

parents smiling in wide-rimmed glasses, holding

the mass of my brother shrouded in white, there is

a photograph of a horse, running 

against a backdrop of flames. 

 

I wasn’t there. But I can imagine it felt 

like a bad omen, or at least ruined the atmosphere

of the party. Long floral dresses 

smelling like smoke on the drive home. 

Uneaten, personalized sheet cake. 

It’s-a-boy-blue flowers perfectly intact. 

 

But isn’t a baby a kind of calamity? 

Isn’t life a fire no amount of holy water can extinguish?

Filed Under: Issue 103, Poetry, Poetry 103 Tagged With: Emily Butler

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