Dakota Galvin
What the Fire Left Us
I’ve always turned my nose toward
the buildings
that burn – if not the burning
buildings, the boy who started the fire
& stands at the edge of the flame,
what do I do now?
with palms –
palms covered in ash
stretched in surrender.
I tell myself: remember this moment:
the boy,
the ash on
the palms –
the palms under
the fire,
the smoke,
the fight,
the surrender,
the flight
I tell him: remember the story
of the phoenix,
from the ash it
made