He was the boy with the glowing firefly
carcass smeared on his finger.
He was curious, magical looking
and brutal. He took the edge
of my beautiful blue pinafore and
wiped his finger clean.
I slapped him away, his hand
a slow sway from my push,
then saw on his thumb more
of the now black remains.
I grabbed him back and
quickly finished cleaning.
-- Nancy Kirkwood
Nancy Kirkwood teaches creative nonfiction in the Madwomen in the Attic workshops at Carlow University, and in other workshops in the Pittsburgh area. Her work has appeared in publications such as Literary Mama and The Lewis and Clark Journal. She lives in Sewickley. Many writers featured in Chapter & Verse are guests of Prosody, produced by Jan Beatty and Ellen Wadey. Prosody airs every Tuesday at 7 p.m. on WYEP 91.3 FM.
