Susanna Lang

Workers in fluorescent suits, helmeted, faceless, carry wands with fire at their tips. Flames run up the spiral path to the summit, leaving a trail of ash. 

		Rivulets of smoke
		twist over the dark river—
		serpent mound burning

Two days later, the air is still acrid.

The grasses will grow more lush next summer. And when I climb that path, the serpent’s coils will hold residual heat.

The epigraph is from “A Stone” (Words in Stone, poems by Yves Bonnefoy, translated by Susanna Lang, University of Massachusetts Press, 1976)

Susanna Lang’s chapbook, Like This, was released in 2023 (Unsolicited Books), along with her translation of poems by Souad Labbize, My Soul Has No Corners (Diálogos Books). Her fourth full-length collection is forthcoming from Cornerstone Press.