Flammable Pantoum

For as long as we could, we waited
and tended the man who smelled
like petroleum, flammable man
who feared we were half his, all hers.

We tended the incendiary man,
brought him the remote and pretzels
fearing we were all his, half hers.
We were silent when he got home.

We brought him Oreos and James B. Beam
and scurried back to our rooms.
We were soundless when he was home.
There was nothing to say to him.

We scurried back to our rooms
and watched cartoon kids on tapes.
There was nothing to say to him
that would have helped her.

The cartoon kids were in trouble
and had to get themselves out of it.
We wanted to help our mom.
We would have done anything for her.

They had to get themselves out of it,
without telling the adults their plan.
We would have done anything for Mom.
We would pile in the car one afternoon and go.

Without telling anyone our plan,
we would simply wade East on I-10,
having piled in the car one afternoon,
three in the back, my big sister up front.

We would simply drift East on I-10
away from the man who smelled like gasoline,
three kids in the backseat, one up front.
For as long as we could, we had stayed.

Tiger Church

My father threw me and the tigers in the house of God
and sealed the doors behind him. The tigers

didn’t do their jobs. They ran between the pews sniffing
and played with each other at the altar, rolling on their backs

and grumbling at crosses. I knelt on a prayer bench
and waited for someone to find me until I was tired

and slept in the aisle, as the tigers rested near me,
protecting me from whatever might happen to me alone

in the church cold, where I was defenseless against myself,
who I had become, who I could be, who I could love.

I dreamt a dove landed on my chest, revised me
to metal, changed everything else to stone.

Brett Hanley holds an MFA from McNeese State University and a PhD from Florida State University. Their newest book of poems is forthcoming from Black Lawrence Press in January 2028. Brett's debut poetry collection, I Was Your Bird, is out now from JackLeg Press. She has received support from the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference and is a Poetry Reader for TRP.