Roman Candle in the Night

A Poem by L.M. Browning

A selection from Drive Through the Night. Nominated for the 2022 Pushcart Prize.

Shame be damned—

own the ruin of yourself

wear failure like a vintage

     coat—torn, tattered heart—

     you are a worn-out classic

soul of arcane salt and grit.

Outcast, iconoclast, standfast.

Beyond the black and white blah

of social norms we clash and crash

in the candle-lit dusk of conscious

dreams and darkest desires

I return to the wild

dig my heels in,

bare my teeth,

and stand this new ground.

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L.M. Browning (they/them) is a bestselling poet whose hybrid of introspective travel writing and visual art focuses on the alchemizing of trauma through active awe-seeking and a re-wilding of one’s life and self. Les and their coydog, Kiva, divide their time between New Mexico and Wayfarer Farm in the Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts.