With the exception of Where the Red Fern
Grows, only non-fiction, and only if
he could read the book in reverse, to see
what happens on the back end, no surprise,
as if glimpsing the index key would help
you relax? I asked. No, more like I have
zero time for the build-up or bookmark.
Periodicals, novels, collections
of short stories on my nightstand, poems,
journals, matches and candles in my drawer
so I could read when the power went out.
The cedars along the perimeter
groaned in the howling wind then went silent.
Don’t leave that tea light flame unattended.

Nicole Chvatal writes property deeds and other witty things in Bath, Maine. Her work has appeared in Popshot Quarterly, SWWIM Daily, Quarter After Eight, LEON Literary Review, Pilgrimage, Verseweavers, The Portland Press Herald, HUSK Zine and Deep Overstock Magazine. She is a graduate of the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College.