The Hurricane Lamp, by Sundin Richards

Sundin Richards’ work has appeared in many journals, such as Colorado Review, Volt, Zone, Sugar House Review, and Western Humanities Review (where he won the Utah Writer's Competition for poetry), among others. He has been twice nominated for a Pushcart Prize. He is the poetry editor for Jumping Blue Gods and lives in Salt Lake City. He passed away in 2015.

The Helper Years

Be
wildered
by loco
motives
the little
town fumes
in a cradle

It’s the sound
noticed first
full reassuring
threat on skin

    Blooms into a
    love of animals
    and wee things
    under wheels

Ghetto in the eye
blink of nowhere
the bow
the rifle
the shitpile
and the dog

    The Royal Order
    of The Queen’s
    Guts is given
    braving spiders

And if this aint
the end of the world
you sure can see it
from here

Firedamp is feared
up and down the line
and are those your teeth
or dice over there?

Even for us that's
a lot of mountain

Sugar from plastic
was goddamn grace
on credit

Glow
yon searchlight
aimed at the library
or honkeytonk

counted as the
same well
    Why punch the hero?
    The bucket drops
    in a gurgle night