Fireworks Are Just Pretty Bombs (& Other Poems)

"I'm dying to believe
In the ghost of the goodness
You strangled
So many years ago
And in the thin rattle of hope
That beats like
A newborn butterfly's wings Inside my fractured heart ..."
—"'Tis of Thee"

Fireworks Are Just Pretty Bombs (& Other Poems) is the debut chapbook from established novelist J. L. Long. From the volatile mix of longing and loathing explored in the title poem to the bold defiance in poems such as “Burn Down Everything You Love” and “I’ll Give You Something to Be Afraid Of,” and from the quiet, broken prayer of “Merciful” to the heartfelt ode to community found in “Little Brother,” this poetry collection explores the full gamut of human emotion and experience.

Life and death, love and grief, gender and sexuality, faith and despair: You will find all of these, and more, within these pages.