Mars in Leo by Leah Mueller

You come on 

like a forest fire,

but I am half-asleep.

Ten years younger,

you still stoke the furnace

every day. 

I am content to sleep in

and shuffle to the kitchen

for coffee. 

What will

become of us? 

We met in flames, 

but will die 

in earth, sooner 

than either of us

imagined.

I could have a 

seventy-year-old beau

with real estate,

instead of a slacker musician

who works at 

Ace Hardware,

but oh, 

the warmth.

We’ll go cold too soon.

Go ahead 

and poke the embers.

Leah Mueller is the author of ten prose and poetry books. Her work appears in Rattle, Midway Journal, Citron Review, The Spectacle, Miracle Monocle, Outlook Springs, Atticus Review, Your Impossible Voice, etc. It has also been featured in trees, shop windows in Scotland, poetry subscription boxes, and literary dispensers throughout the world. Her flash piece, "Land of Eternal Thirst" will appear in the 2022 edition of Sonder Press' "Best Small Fictions" anthology. Visit her website at www.leahmueller.org.