Certain Streets
a firefighter will not go
by Ibe Liebenberg
One is marked with flowers.
I do not drive down that street
or any of the others.
they put up pictures and crosses
to remind me to look away.
Some have nothing
because I pave over them in sleep.
Set up signs, do not enter,
closed forever.
If I forget, or am
forced to revisit,
I will look ahead,
stare at the center line,
unfocus my eyes and
make a memory to believe.
Tell myself I saved you.
About the Author
Ibe Liebenberg is a firefighter in Chico, California and a lecturer at Chico State University. He is a proud citizen of the Chickasaw Nation. He has been published in The Journal of Chickasaw History and Culture, Blue River Review, Watershed Review, THAT Literary Review, Chico State Universities Multicultural Echoes Literary Magazine, and forthcoming in The ThreePenny Review.