Imitations

by Audrey Bartholomew

The glazy flashes of a neon sign

in a midnight casino sky

cannot compare

to the bouncing streams

of blazing sunsparks

on the noon surface

of a sleeping lake,

but

a colliding sprazzle

of Fourth of July

from a 60-second sparkler

clutched tight in the outstretched fist

of an awed child

comes close.