SUBJECT>Pyre POSTER>Laurel EMAIL> DATE>1110577881 IP_ADDRESS>156.77.108.71 PASSWORD>aaFRbor6/KzWk PREVIOUS> NEXT> 84632 84634 84638 84640 84649 84671 84678 84767 IMAGE> LINKNAME> LINKURL>

Pyre (or: Cherchez Le Mari)

Easy as a candle left unattended, Xmas-
scented, the room, imagine, infused with gingerbread or ever-
green, the stink of memory potent, a tree,
temporarily erected, needle-pierced feet, apron cinched
so tight, surely you couldn’t breathe, oven mitt disguising
a fist, the oven flapping its lips, and an army
of little men cooling, arms and legs charred, faceless,
you burned it down in your dream as passive-
aggressively as a dead battery, the smoke
detector never given a chance to scream, as careful,
as carelessly as a cigarette savored in bed, smoked
with the languid limbs that precede sleep when the body forgets
its limitations and perhaps bursts spontaneously
into a beautiful conflagration, or maybe the numb extremity
drifts down like a fallen leaf where the ember
blooms like a black lily on the yellow sheets. This pyre
you always desired, this fierce fire hot
and bright as the sun on your wedding day.