there was a gas leak
on my street
and so the power company came
and cut up the road
fixed it
and patched it back up
somehow it interrupted
my heater
and so when I woke up
it was 52 degrees in my house
and as I wait for the plumber
for a few days
I sit with a jacket on
and think about
a few weeks back
when everybody else
lost power
and somehow I didn’t
I remember the look
on my friends faces
when they came over
to put their food in my fridge
or to just be somewhere
warm and bright for a while
before going back home
to the dark
it felt a little
like the end of the world
why is this a feeling
I have come to know so well
in the last five years
as I sit in the cold of my house
a place with no wood stove
no means of simple heat
I think of human history
for most of the last
100,000 years
we never had
to wait for heat
we could always start a fire
for most of time
we could start a fire
and draw anybody cold near it
now fire is illegal
and I wait for days
for somebody to come
and save me from the cold
we used to be able
to sit in the flickering heat
smell the smoke
watch it rise to the stars
we used to be able
to start a fire
sit by it sing by it
let it warm us to our bones
now a fire is our worst fear
and we sit cold and alone

Alexander Shalom Joseph is an award-winning poet, writer and playwright from Gilpin County, and is the author of seven published books. You can find his work and more information about him at alexandershalomjoseph.com.