The island is this:
rimmed with trees
over centuries
the rest gone
for firewood
unrestrained
red clay soil
bleeding into the sea
That’s how I felt
when you left
ninety percent gone
and that tossed to the breeze
ash
char
the axe-man’s chuckle
I still burn
hope
this finds you as me:
out in mid-Ocean
smoldering
Steve Burke lives in the Mount Airy section of Philadelphia; has been published in various journals, read at many venues about the area; in 2014 had his chapbook After The Harvest published by Moonstone Press; has two book-length MSS-in-waiting — 36 Views Of Here and Nothing Doing.