Bitter smoke clings to the rafters.
The corrugated shed is but a skeleton, creaking in the breeze.
Embers crackle hungrily in the paddocks, sending ashes dancing like butterflies in spring.
Beneath cracked soil, seeds awake.
Soon new life will sprout and the fire will linger only as a painful memory.

Collette Night is an Australian writer who crafts lyrical prose with bite, often circling themes of healing, memory, and the uncarved future. Her work seeks to take you elsewhere as you read—even if only for a moment. She has appeared in Starry Eyed Press and The Riot Collective, with forthcoming work in Trembling with Fear and Black Hare Press.