'Fires' by Corey Mesler

When I was young I played with
fire, literally. I built
houses of shoeboxes and peopled
them with green plastic
soldiers. Then I would soak it all
with lighter fluid and set
it ablaze, watching with glee
as the people folded and
died, the walls collapsed as if giving
up. Meanwhile, almost exactly
on the other side of the earth my
country was doing something similar.
I was more patriotic than I thought.

 

Corey Mesler: Corey Mesler is the owner of Burke's Book Store, in Memphis, Tennessee, one of the country's oldest (1875) and best independent bookstores. He has published poetry and fiction in numerous journals including Rattle, Pindeldyboz, Quick Fiction, Black Dirt, Thema, Mars Hill Review, Poet Lore and others. He has also been a book reviewer for The Memphis Commercial Appeal. A short story of his was chosen for the 2002 edition of New Stories from the South: The Year's Best, edited by Shannon Ravenel, published by Algonquin Books. Talk, his first novel, appeared in 2002. His latest two poetry chapbooks are Chin-Chin in Eden (2003) and Dark on Purpose (2004). Most importantly, he is Toby and Chloe's dad and Cheryl's husband.