Fire 1 “Untitled”
Enjoy the first draft of this poem from the collection I've been working on
I. There’s the whole history of the world in a fire Boom crackle, man … gather around look volcanoes and mountains blue ice ages | | | deserts blowing sand and war love coals, peace afterward houses toppling There’s all of history in a fire Groan speech, man . tell me a story listen find shapes bridges make metal railroads raise your hand to the light and tell me a story. There’s everything in a fire Tip toe, music soul and bansion of it tears make love breathe, hold it place your hand in the fire let me tell you a story II. I could stare into a fire forever. Anywhere in this country and when I stare into the fire, it’s all the same … feels the same Us and Fire shimmy into that spot in space and time where the fires exist. Me and Fire shimmy into that spot where I and you and the fire exists and it is melting my feet and I am feeling the entire Earth through the ground. Fire looks at me and feels the ground too. We burn. All life is engulfing and looking and I think the fire looks back. I think we stare at each other and I am looking into the fire and it is looking into me Our insides are mirroring each other and I am all over the sky. I’m slipping from the woods into some great black creature. Our smoke is rolling out into the hills and parts of us will condense into water and so I pull the smoke closer and I fly upwards and while we’re embracing please tell me a story. III. Let me tell you a story: A girl and a tree are sitting by the water and they are not thinking about each other until they are. They are wondering who is going to move first. The tree is nearly positive it will out-sit the girl, but this tree has not seen many people sit. Compared to other trees, they are not as familiar with a girl's ability to sit or not sit. They are, however, very familiar with their own ability to sit. The tree and the girl are sitting by the water and they are wondering who is going to move first. The girl is nearly positive she will not win and that she will not hear a peep out of the tree because they will be so confident in their victory. But the girl likes to sit and the girl likes the water and the girl even likes the tree so she makes like a tree and she sits. To burn away the time she creates. Her and the tree slowly growing next to each other and becoming bigger. Neither her nor the tree are moving but they are. They are moving and they are still and eventually the tree takes a bit of their tree energy to glance over and up at the girl that is sitting above and below them. The girl does not feel the trees glance because she is too busy growing and being still. So the girl and the tree continue to sit and while they’re at it they realize others are there too, some sitting, and some looking for new places to play the growing and sitting game. Eventually, the tree begins to respect the girl, and obviously the girl respects the tree. The tree has lived many lifetimes, the tree has grown so much, the tree has sat with it all. The tree has reached out. And – after sitting long enough – the tree reaches out again. Tree’s energy taps girl’s energy on the toe, and because she is paying attention, she turns.