“Shots Fired on New Year’s Eve,” a Poem by Ali Black
From the Collection “We Look Better Alive”
“We Look Better Alive”
My auntie always hid in the front closet whenever they started shooting.
That same closet stored my grandfather’s shotgun, so I never understood
why any of us were ever afraid. We could shoot back. This New Year’s
Eve my brother had his pistol and my friend fired the whole clip. Every
loved one we know in heaven smiled. I held my breath and when it
was over I mistook the drywall dust from our walls for gun powder—it
covered my friend’s shoulder. We were dressed in black and took shots
of cognac. We danced to Future. When the ball dropped, I forgot to
give my annual kiss. If I could relive the night, I’d fire the gun into
the big black sky.
______________________________
We Look Better Alive by Ali Black is available via Burnside Review Press.
Ali Black
Ali Black is a writer from Cleveland, Ohio. She is the author of We Look Better Alive (Burnside Review Press, 2025) and If It Heals at All (Jacar Press, 2020), which was selected by Jaki Shelton Green for the New Voices Series and named a finalist for the 2021 Ohioana Book Award in Poetry. Her writing has appeared in The Offing, jubilat, Literary Hub, Muzzle Magazine, The Adroit Journal, and elsewhere. She is the co-founder of Balance Point Studios, a nonprofit organization dedicated to making, teaching, and sharing art.
