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Get Cara Losier Chanoine’s writing in the FREE PDF file 2013 poetry chapbook How a Bullet Behaves				You can also order this as a 2013 6" x 9" perfect-bound paperback ISBN# book! Click on the cover spread for the book How a Bullet Behaves

Fourth of July

Cara Losier Chanoine

The young girl watches the fireworks
from her front porch,
writhing snake-like into the night.
The ground is littered with the hard, clear confetti
that burst free when the light show first began.

The father balances his daughter on the edge of the porch railing,
watching the mingled lights of emergency vehicles
blend into the color of nightfall.
A firefighter hefts a hose
toward the snake-licking flames
that blew out the windows of two cars
in the intersection.
He watches the ambulance,
waits for the paramedics to roll out a stretcher,
but they don’t.

The girl yawns back against her father’s chest,
the fireworks still dancing
behind her closed eyelids,
spiraling into the sky.
The show has finished.
All that’s left is the strobing afterglow
of blue and red.
The father carries her upstairs.
She says her prayers,
and falls asleep.

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