I Imagine My Rejected Poems as Ghosts

"Confluence 3" by Stephen Briseño

I Imagine My Rejected Poems as Ghosts

by Stephen Briseño

When rejection drops

by for his routine visit,

the ghosts rattle

my coffee cups that hang

in the kitchen, hide

all my good pens between

the couch cushions, fashion

a makeshift tinderbox

from broken pencil nubs.

At night when I attempt

to sleep, I hear them thumb

through the leaves

of my journal, like lonely

thrushes striking wings

against the branches, rip out

stacks of scribbled pages,

light them on fire,

and weep from the smoke.

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Stephen Briseño is a poet and middle school English teacher. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in Mentor Mixtapes, 8Poems, formercactus, Riddled with Arrows, and Right Hand Pointing. He lives in San Antonio, TX with his wife and daughter, where you can usually find them lounging at a coffee shop. Follow him on Twitter: @stephen_briseno