Last Day for Burning
Sophie Fenella

The photo album is half full
                                         leave it
pick up your rucksack
                               leave lightly
like ash falling from cigarettes
                                    like snow
the speed of leaving is equivalent
to the time it takes
to forget why you came to the computer
                    sharp   abrupt   flight
like the last word of an argument
like an elastic band                  flung
accidentally

you are not ready for your eight in the morning meeting
you’d rather leave this burning building to smolder

flames are toffee wrapper bright
phoenix feathers at your door
acid fuzz hovers above floorboards

by now you are ash heavy
remembering the health and safety induction
                                                           on your first day
the day you felt sick with dread
                                           like you’d swallowed lead
                                                   like you were sinking

the building is up in flames         for you
for all the times you wanted to leave
but couldn’t because                          rent

you’d rather unwind this copper wire
                           let your stomach hang
you’d rather be in riot gear          ready
for apocalyptic meltdown

take what cannot burn
notebooks                                          last night's pasta
pencil case                                                              gloves
objects are immeasurably soft when perishable

you’d rather packet yourself and exit via the window
like a burglar
like your first love

Sophie Fenella is poet and a performer from London. She is part of the Burn After Reading poetry collective run by Jacob Sam-La Rose, and has performed at festivals and events such as Boom Town, Secret Garden Party, Bang Said the Gun and National Poetry Day Live. Her work has featured in Magma, Rising and been commended in the Sentinel Literary Quarterly Competition.

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