Too many sirens
today. Blood-colored
warning streaked through
the window blinds.
Blue shards intact.
Will the chase
scene stop for
the squirrel? Early-
morning walk last
year, a mouse
dead on sidewalk
slab. Decomposed mid-
smile. Whiskers poised
or posed—maybe
to smell his
own last breath.
What was it
she said. She
said don’t come
home. Or maybe
don’t come home
too late. But
anyway I am
not home. Outside
cold this time
of year. What
do the sirens
chase. The anvil
in my head
is too old
for this warning.
My pockets shiver.
Already the heat
bill too high.
I can’t stand
this emptiness inside
myself. Sirens will
use too much
gas. I am
either not enough
or too much.
A man never
smiling or frowning,
just brinking interruption.
Extinction? I don’t
remember what she
said. Important. I’m
sure it was
important. How many
days pass while
I try to
catch sirens on
my windows. Sometimes
they snag against
the curtain like
a rabied-seagull
at the beach.
Seagulls aren’t really
wild, but they
used to know
someone. Who was
it they knew.
I think we
knew the same
person. Am I
outside or inside?
Is my brain
a sound? Liquor’s
siren call cold
against my cash.
My warm body
a warning. Did
she say don’t
come home? The
burn mark carpeting
my floor despite
unrelenting siren waves.
A something-burn.
The tornado curtain
call is soon.
Bomb shelter at
the ready—no,
that’s the wrong
emergency. But it’s
all the same,
really. We deal
& we drink
& we hide
our receipts. We
lose our coats
in the dark.
Remi Recchia is a trans poet and essayist from Kalamazoo, Michigan. He is a PhD candidate in English-Creative Writing at Oklahoma State University. He currently serves as an associate editor for the Cimarron Review and as Book Editor for Gasher Press. A five-time Pushcart Prize nominee, Remi’s work has appeared in World Literature Today, Best New Poets 2021, Columbia Online Journal, Harpur Palate, and Juked, among others. He holds an MFA in poetry from Bowling Green State University. Remi is the author of Quicksand/Stargazing (Cooper Dillon Books, 2021) and Sober (Red Bird Chapbooks, 2022).