Sidequest has published another of my poems, this one inspired by Lava Reef Zone from one of my all-time favorite video games, Sonic & Knuckles.  This level always stood out to me for the stark difference between Acts 1 and 2, from the colors to the music, the rapid change from fiery to crystal cool. 

This poem was originally going to be about the narrator waiting for the other person to cool down, but I decided I wanted it to be more about shared culpability and recovery, so I changed it.  For research I looked up terms for various cave formations, and once I started reading them the poem practically wrote itself.  Like I mentioned with “The Geologist Speaks,” science can provide so much poetic terminology.