An Update from the Author: April 2021

Dear Friends, Family, and Cherished Readers,

I hope this update finds you well.

I would like to share my latest publication. My poem, “Fireworks,” was written on the morning of July 5th, 2020. It was just published today in Breath and Shadow.

For context, I am including an excerpt of the journal entry that follows “Fireworks.” Often, I keep these in my poetry document to remind myself of the headspace I was in at the time of the poem’s writing.

We sit without speaking.

The things we’d wanted when the night was still young seem so very hollow in the cruel light of dawn.

We hold our souls in our hands, their tremulous beating the only proof we have of any higher power, but in the end, we all open the hands we’ve clenched into fists and we sing of the moon and we fly like birds set free until we realize we have no wings with which to soar.

And our souls; they were athunder. It wasn’t until the morning after that I remember this simple, horrible truth.

I am a whirlwind. A storm. I am always longing for some ever more distant city to deface, some other pale, fragile heart to break.

(you can count me / as a loss / you can tell them / I was caught / sleeping at the gates.)

I hope you enjoy “Fireworks,” and this little glimpse into my writing life and innermost thoughts.

I’d like to thank the editors at Breath and Shadow for having faith in my work! And I’d also like to thank all of you, for reading and enjoying my work.

All the best,

Caitlin Cacciatore