Zippo
The jaw cracks wide
like a sun-drunk lily,
a gasp of steel
in my talon hand
as it reveals a puckered gullet.
I thumb the flint trachea
till it coughs up blue flame
orange with soot.
A smoulder of Golden Virginia
taints the butane air
as I imagine black coals
seared to chalk
and a brunette in silk
dragging fire
through brown weeds.
Joe Castle is a writer living in Milton Keynes with a First Class honours from the University of Northampton.