Red and Gold Sparks

Late one evening during Chinese New Year, a child rests on his father's shoulders so he can see the fireworks display along the Yangtze River.  Just as each new firework fades, a dragon appears trying to hold each pattern created. The child watches the dragon chase the red and gold sparking against the black.  As it somersaults, the dragon creates figure eights that frame each fire picture.

" Look, Father!," the child exclaims," Did you see that?"

Bio: Heather Ann Schmidt is an adjunct professor at Oakland Community College. She edits tinfoildresses and is the editor/ founder of recycled karma press.  Her poems and fiction have appeared in several journals and anthologies.  Her books are Njaa (recycled karma press, 2009), Channeling Isadora Duncan (Gold Wake Press, 2009), The Bat's Lovesong: American Haiku (Crisis Chronicles Press, 2009), The Owl & the Muse: Collected Tanka (recycled karma press, 2009) and a novella, Lessons From the Orient Express ( a series at Troubadour 21).  Forthcoming are Transient Angels (Crisis Chronicles Press, 2010) and Cepheid Variables (Village Green Press, 2010).  She holds an MFA in Poetry from National University.