This pairing of poetry and artwork feels like Shel Silverstein for grown ups.
Poem by Charlotte Amelia Poe
Illustration by by Jesse Davis Karshner

If You’ll Only Let Me
i want to write you a housefire
i want to destroy your childhood
i want to burn the photographs
that show you gaptoothed and smiling
you know how they’re all sepia and purpled now
like they’ve bruised in the sun
i’m listening to the way you play your acoustic guitar
and i hate the way you twist your fingers to find the chords
i hum along to the music and i wish i could be your arsonist
i could be the prettiest disaster in the world
if you’d only let me
let me strike the match, baby
i’m begging on my knees, scraped up on the concrete
willing destructor
if
you’ll
only
let
me.
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