The Flag

On the roof of the old barracks
a row of air vents burr,
breathless as nuns praying.
A string of bird calls---
light starts trickling,
sleepers fret behind the gauze.

A string of katydid songs
stark in the foothills
of Tennessee,
maybe it was Morgantown.
There, the library in July was cool
like a nave. Tell no one.  Desire
is the flag I open and fold.
My room alights in doubt.  ​

"Pampas" by Dave Petraglia

---

Pui Ying Wong was born in Hong Kong. She is the author of a full length book of poetry Yellow Plum Season (New York Quarterly Books, 2010), two chapbooks: Mementos (Finishing Line Press, 2007), Sonnet for a New Country (Pudding House Press, 2008) and her poems have appeared in Connotation Press: An Online Artifact, Crannog (Ireland), Gargoyle, Literary Bohemian, Prairie Schooner, Taos Journal of Poetry & Art, The Southampton Review, and Valparaiso Poetry Review among others. She lives in Cambridge with her husband, the poet Tim Suermondt. ​

---

Dave Petraglia's writing and photography has appeared in Popular Science, Popular Mechanics, Better Homes & Gardens; more recently in Agave Magazine, Cactus Heart, Dark Matter Journal, eFiction India, Loco, Gravel, Petrichor Review, Storyacious, Thought Catalog, theNewerYork, and Vine Leaves. He lives near Jacksonville, Florida. His blog is at www.drowningbook.com