Kyle Vaughn

Memory of September

The expanse of sky is not a direction.
But you set off anyway, like you could navigate
the country on foot. You unraveled your best
sentences from the fire, typed them on raw
paper, folded, folded, and let fly at
low altitude. The Earth is still perfect.
Your child’s mouth no longer exists. You saved
his teeth in an envelope in a drawer. Blood
means everything. Blood was a lamp.
You wanted the company of a loved one.
The light couldn’t be bothered to show him the way.

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Kyle Vaughn’s poems have appeared in journals and anthologies such as Adbusters, The Boiler, Drunken Boat, Poetry East, Vinyl and Introduction to the Prose Poem (Firewheel Editions). His prose has appeared in English Journal and his photography in Annalemma and Holon. His non-fiction book A New Light in Kalighat, featuring photos and stories about children in the Kalighat red light district in Kolkata, India, was published in 2013 and featured by Nicholas Kristof's Half the Sky Movement. His classroom curriculum book Lightning Paths: 75 Poetry Writing Exercises was released in 2018 (NCTE Books).