Outside of Eastham by Martha Christina

1
a digital sign alerts drivers:
CONTROLLED
BURN AHEAD

2
The firefighter
directing traffic
waves us on. “No
worries,” she says,
smiling, “Everything’s
under control.”

3
Smoke drifts
across the road.
Memory follows.

4
My mother
at flash point. . .
with access
to matches.



Martha Christina is a frequent contributor to Brevities. Longer work appears in Innisfree Poetry Journal, Naugatuck River Review, earlier postings of Red Eft Review, and most recently in the anthology Ice Cream Poems from World Enough Writers. She has published two collections: Staying Found (Fleur-de-lis Press) and Against Detachment (Pecan Grove Press).