Deep in the woods,
I make my daily journey
Nobody has found me yet,
although they know I like
to set my toys aflame,
burning plastic
in the basement
I have to light fires
to douse my anger,
to destroy and conquer,
to avoid the pain
of being burned
by the end of a cigarette
I need to feed the flames,
see its blackness reach the sky,
and watch myself get charred and burned,
so I don’t feel deprived
My mother thinks
that it’s a stage I’m going through,
while my therapist believes it’s far worse,
like I’ve been exposed, somehow,
to a stranger in the middle of the night
or a man who whips me with a belt
I’m confused—
I don’t know what to feel
There’s a dullness in my head
that I can’t let go,
a tear that I can’t mend
I look for a match
to light up the world,
and repair what’s broken.
Mark Tulin is a former therapist from Philadelphia who lives in Ventura, California. A publisher once compared his work to artist Edward Hopper on how he grasps unusual aspects of people. Mark books include Magical Yogis, Awkward Grace, The Asthmatic Kid and Other Stories, available at Amazon. Mark has appeared in Vita Brevis Press, Amethyst Review, Underwood Press, The Poetry Village, Page and Spine, Fiction on the Web, Terror House Magazine, Temptation Press, Poppy Road Review, Visitant, The Writing Disorder, Oddball Magazine, New Readers Magazine, as well as anthologies and podcasts.