Lisa Gluskin Stonestreet
and how could I have come
more than halfway and not know, I mean
I say it often enough. This is how
we talk tough, out here in the dark wood
where the direct way is lost though hey
it looks pretty clear to me, one-way trip
fire to fire. Even you, asshole,
the one with the big gun
on your shoulder, brandishing your right
to brandish your fear.
How Funny (all the half-lifes
say ha ha) because otherwise—
Fire makes me grandiose.
Like this. Did Cassandra
get these lines, arrowed down
between her brows? Well
of course, honey, of course. And did
her fury burn her thin, gall-
bladder out? Burn men
to ash? Which myth was that?
Who am I kidding. I am merely
an apprentice, still a girl
touching a stolen battery
to her tongue.
Please. Flood me
with fire, show me light
beyond this one
sharp spark. Let me burn
on this pyre. May we all
burn.