June 2017
E. Martin Pedersen
martinpedersen1255@gmail.com
In 1978 I left my hometown of San Francisco, California, for a long hitch-hiking trip around the Mediterranean, ending up in Messina, Sicily, where I still live. I teach English at the local university. My poetry has appeared recently in Alexandria Quarterly, Cacti Fur, Botticelli Magazine and several others. Besides writing, I sing, follow Giants baseball, and take summer walks back home on the PCT.

Smokey Poetry

 
The old paper burns easier than I thought
I was prepared but nothing went wrong
the old-timey pencil scratches from 1973 to 1987
on the backs of notices for meetings long over
school handouts and form letters
the slick photocopy paper turned greenish yellow
I kept one sheet with the handwriting of my angel on it
the rest in a plastic bag that sat near my desk for a month
then the first day of spring I was alone I took the bag
to the tin tub on the roof and with book matches
relived and redied fifteen years’ worth
there wasn't as much smoke as I expected and the ashes
didn't fly away in the wind, nothing 
throwing them in a few at a time it was all over in 15 minutes
a bit of heat and orange, a puff of smoke
then the water I poured in the tub 
made black mud
and I went back inside.
© 2017 E. Martin Pedersen