I.

morphine drip of late
afternoon vines
and stars

the house winds
on like an antique
punishment

I like to imagine
death my sister says

naked
like the other
angels

II.

I am some candle burning
low
says my brother

hands full of feathers

shadow full of my shadow

III.

catching fireflies with my sister
behind the old schoolhouse

what happens when you snuff them out
I say

they smoke like matches
she says

here too there was a fire

and all got out
but one boy

is it true
I say

you were the one
she says

IV.

praying into the melted eye of the moon
with my brother

it is intolerable being born it is
intolerable to die

Kevin Chesser is a writer and musician living in West Virginia. His poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Hobart, A Void, Still, and elsewhere. He plays banjo in the old-time stringband, T-Mart Rounders.