Issue 21

Fall 2019

Target Practice

Larry D. Thacker

Can I shoot a round

into the sky high enough

for it to fall

back to earth and burn

like a meteorite,

nearly high enough

to flirt with what we all want,

a little escaping from a lot of gravity,

a lightening of burdens,

for only a few pulses of the heart,

shot up and away

from our anchor,

through night blankness,

a desire to pierce

whatever we find,

up and out, pinpointing

our ricochet

off the vanished dome,

cracking a little fire through,

falling back to earth enflamed.

About the Author

Larry D. Thacker is a Kentuckian writer, artist, and educator hailing from Johnson City, TN. He lives with his wife, Karin, and their cat, Abraham Lincoln. His poetry is in over 150 publications including Spillway, Still: The Journal, Valparaiso Poetry Review, Poetry South, The Southern Poetry Anthology, The American Journal of Poetry, The Lake, Illuminations Literary Magazine, and Appalachian Heritage. His books include three full poetry collections, Drifting in Awe, Grave Robber Confessional, and Feasts of Evasion, two chapbooks, Voice Hunting and Memory Train, as well as the folk history, Mountain Mysteries: The Mystic Traditions of Appalachia. His MFA in poetry and fiction is earned from West Virginia Wesleyan College. Visit his website at: www.larrydthacker.com.

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