A gang of street urchins
fill balloons with fire from a tank
used to inflate the silks of hot air balloons.
The Keystone cop walks his beat
swinging his Billy Club. He looks the other
way, seems to not notice
ragamuffins forming a human chain.
They pass balloons that burn yet are not
consumed. Hand to hand
fire balloons descend into the gutter
then deeper down a manhole. Waking,
I’m glad to see the kids at work.
As long as they stoke my belly and
the mind patrol that has dogged me for weeks
is distracted, I can write.
Rhett Watts poems have appeared in many journals and in the book The Best Spiritual Writing 2000. Her books of poems are: Willing Suspension and The Braiding. She has two chapbooks. Rhett facilitates writing workshops in CT and MA, and is a member of the 4×4 artisit / poets collaborative in Worcester.
