[I want to live in an evergreen forest] – Madison Kalia

I want to live in an evergreen forest, in the cold, in the dark, my home and my house and my shell the only light for miles. We’ll attract demons ‘cause we live so well. We’ll attract God and angels and heaven because we live so well, and we’ll call Toni Morrison and we’ll ask her why we didn’t read her until she died. We’ll ask God why winter grass is greener than the rest and why grey sky brings us comfort and why it kills us.

We are a fireplace with no chimney, a house full of smoke, collapsed lungs, purple and beating and calling and waiting. We are a fire alarm of light, a ghost of air. We hush right past framed pictures on the wall. They fall as we pass. We are the glass that makes the floor bleed. I want a gas stove.

Madison Kalia attends Delta State and is the editor for Crepe & Penn (Twitter: @crepeandpenn). She has work published/forthcoming with the Delta Arts Literary Journal, Burning House Press, Camwood Publishing, honey & lime, and Dream Noir. She loves reading and supporting other artists’ work and can be found on Twitter @MadisonKalia.