A Flash in the Matchstick

I investigate a word say, wood—

I capture an image of planks,

splintered into kindling, see logs

split and stacked along side

of a fireplace, smell forested

hillsides of tamarack. I hear

a door creak open, behind it

A surprise of saplings, I am

then stilted beyond risk closing

it and meditate on what’s beyond

the next portal of my words say,

a red tipped matchstick.


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dg nanouk okpik was born in and spent much of her life in Anchorage, Alaska. She attended Salish Kootenai College, the Institute of American Indian Arts, and Stonecoast at the University of Southern Maine. okpik has won the Truman Capote Literary Trust Award, the May Sarton Award, and an American Book Award for her first book, Corpse Whale. Her second book is Blood Snow (Wave, 2022), which was a finalist for the 2023 Pulitzer Prize.