Hello readers! Every week, BOA's staff and interns share one of our favorite poems from our over 300 collections of poetry. This week's poem from Mandatory Evacuation by North Carolinian poet Peter Makuck is dedicated to the people affected by Hurricane Florence.

Streetlamps

The last long streaks of sunlight
finally slip
from photo cells
atop each pole
and one, two, three
down the hill
above the brick street and yellow leaves
it begins—
not the soft white
hovering and shimmering I saw
those grade school nights
on bedroom ceiling and wall,
but a harsh, almost purple glow.
They’re not angels any more
but keep
a kind of faith
(flicker though it will)
with my parents’ house,
the woodstove kitchen,
the music and voices
drifting upstairs
to my room,
keeping the dark
at a distance.

Mandatory Evacuation is available from the BOA Bookstore.

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