Forrest Rapier

 
Floridamyth of My Friends Who Turned into Shades

They started blending into the night
It wasn’t scary, it was kind of cute

They wore all black and started piling logs in the pit
Looks good to me
I was coiled like a cobra in a basket
Waiting for the flute to sing my name

Once you start twirling smoke up long branches,
You start seeing people who aren’t here anymore
They burn everything they can find that will light

Lullaby of the Aerialist

The Shark House had a hammerhead jawbone
Nailed to the coquina wall back
On the balcony where he’d rock me

Like a barstool in a pool hall before
Some newborn windstorm came
Home for landfall

Forrest Rapier has appeared in Asheville Poetry Review, Best New Poets, and Greensboro Review. His debut poetry collection, As the Den Burns, was published by Texas Review Press in 2022. Previously, he’s received fellowships and scholarships from Key West Literary Seminar, Sewanee Writers' Conference, and the University of Virginia.

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