Pyrography
Kristin Garth
Previously published in The Ginger Collect
A glowing of tendrils, amber, iris
aflame, this pirouette, light at midnight,
once had a name. Mesmerized, one dark eye,
remnant of life, immolates, at first sight,
virgin, midwife. Reminder this kindling
once was alive. Difference extinguished
in smoke survives. They tell of your twinkling,
the height of your blaze. Porcelain ash
begets their perpetual haze. They can shake you
from hair, disseminate your heart. One eye
memorized, an iridescence tattoo —
biography inside pyrography.
You ended on oak. Their flicker remakes
a girl into fire transcending the stake.
14
Cauldron Anthology