P O E T R Y

i’ll never choose fire

silence swaying,
I ease your burn with dampened cloth

coming up slow to ensure his absence
left and right — one step
check again — two steps
have you offered your branches? are the shears in their place?

your wind forms
i cower
    expand
        vainly live — no!
dig up old earth— yes
fire-fallowed, salt-ridden
(starving, even so)

jolting accusations
                               engrave your repercussions
negotiations return to failed strategies i swore i’d
never return to
and i risk it, for you

i aloe my wound, from water and wind
not from fire (we’d never choose fire)
tie you to me with strings of proposals
innocent, binding, unbeknownst (probably)

i felt you once

i feel Your still

you’d never choose fire
so i never will

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