Fear of a House Fire
you never wanted to be acquainted with / its slow slithering / its sulfur stench / the thin molten orange tearing across a room / the existential threat / the destruction of what you hold dear / a neighbor heard the bang / in the apartment below hers / moments later / incessant beeping / do you hear that? she texts you / you do / and you smell it / you know you should not go looking / should not open the locked door / no one answers when you knock / the owner texts you her door lock’s passcode / you wonder whether your neighbors would do this / if they heard your smoke alarm screaming / you open that door / your body tenses / black smoke / tendrils rising down the hall / you wonder whether curiosity and stupidity are cousins / in the boy’s bedroom / flames swallow carpet / later you’ll learn / a battery in a charging nightlight / overheated / exploded / catching the closest stuffed animal / but right now / you turn around / order everyone out / out / out of the building / your fingers flurry / against smartphone screen / 9-1-1 / your mouth moves / tells the operator / there’s a fire / where it is / how you know / as memory engulfs you / you were eleven / at a sleepover / you played Nightmare with your friends / on the VHS tape / the Gatekeeper ordered / what is your greatest fear? / write it now on this slip of paper / thirty years later / your answer is taunting you / licking its lips at you / as you run out of the building / pocketbook and laptop in your arms / phone cradled against your ear / wailing sirens down the street / do not calm you / do not reassure you / that you have saved lives / that you have saved your home / that you are safe
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Sara Letourneau is the author of Wild Gardens (Kelsay Books, 2024). She is also a book editor and writing coach at Heart of the Story Editorial & Coaching Services; the cofounder and cohost of the Pour Me a Poem open mic in Mansfield, Massachusetts; and the co-editor of the Pour Me a Poem anthology. Her poetry has won the 2023 Beals Prize for Poetry. Her latest work can be found in The Ekphrastic Review, Ibbetson Street, Moss Puppy Magazine, Silver Birch Press, and WAVES: A Confluence of Women’s Voices. Sara is also the author of the Substack column The Wild Garden of Poetry (and Life), which you can read at https://saraheartofthestory.substack.com/. Visit Sara online at her website, on Facebook @heartofthestoryeditorial, on Instagram @sara_heartofthestory, and on LinkedIn @sara-letourneau.
