Jonathan Simkins lives in Denver’s RiNo district. He is the author with artist Justin Ankenbauer of the ekphrastic chapbook, Translucent Winds (Helikon Gallery & Studios, 2016). The title poem of his second chapbook, This Is The Crucible (LuNaMoPoLiS, 2017), was nominated for Best New Poets 2016. His poems have appeared in various publications, including Epigraph Magazine, Gingerbread House Literary Magazine, Literary Orphans, Requited Journal, and Wilderness House Literary Review, among others.

Sparkler Manifestos

Light them in the yards as if our breaths depended on each other.

Light them with bumper stickers and the grunts of incoherent cursing.

Light them handheld in 140 characters for the world wide desktop opium.

Light them at the rally and the protest line if fists can’t solve it.

Light them in the streets by color with Molotov cocktails and tear gas.

Light them for the privileged wound and those about to die.

Light them alive for their catholic sins and the righteous jihad.

Light them with legions of drones and the minds of their makers.

Light them to the ballot box with the dog-whistle fact of fear and hatred.

Light them flags, children, the ruins are yours to make and inhabit.