POETRY
By BILLY MALANGA
Don’t dress me up
in a suit strapped.
Tense.
A costume for worms
in rotting pine.
Makes no sense.
My lips know heat
comes from clash.
Let my bones collapse
into the oven fire
then reach for the handle
and pull the wire
so my red embers
can take flight
like fireflies returning
to the dark night.
If I have a choice
of a slouching funeral
or a white hot fire
I choose the fire.
Always choose the fire.
Billy Malanga (M.Sc. in Criminal Justice) is a first generation college graduate, U.S. Marine Corps veteran, and the grandson of Italian immigrants. He played college football and worked for many years in a state prison system. All of these influences have undeniably shaped his way of thinking about his art. His poetry reveals his small victories and his struggles in redefining masculinity in an effort to better understand the beauty and brutality of the world around him. His poetry has been published/or is forthcoming in: The Adelaide Literary Magazine’s 2017 Award Anthology; The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature; Indolent Books; Aji Literary Magazine; Burnt Pine Magazine; The Journal of Formal Poetry; Wraparound South Literary Journal; Spindrift Art & Literary Journal; and numerous online literary journals.
