The ones that were not blown away—

We can’t see them from where we are, not here in the city, but we can watch them online: a livecam of unspoiled places when the bandwidth isn’t all used up, when the rest of the world is asleep (which never really happens due to hemispheres and restless minds), when traffic calms, then we can sit on the couch, my head against your head, and watch

the ones that were not blown away

still standing

and you put your head against my heart and we watch the sun rise on the earth’s other side, over peaks that once were snow-capped, that once were home to more than buzzards, we watch the sun rise hot and peel our sweating skin from the leather couch, get one of our stockpiled popsicles, we’re down to the last few, but that’s one thing we don’t talk about.

Kate Finegan is editor-in-chief of Longleaf Review and novel/novella editor for Split/Lip Press. She lives in Toronto and can be found online at katefinegan.ink or on Twitter @kehfinegan. This is an excerpt from the chapbook ABLAZE, forthcoming from Sonder Press in November. Visit thesonderpress.com for updates and pre-orders.