Then
If my son is a lantern spilling light and warmth
throug the rose panes of his skin
if combustion is a chemical reaction involving oxygen
and if its byproducts are heat and carbon dioxide
if we also exhale heat and carbon dioxide
if we are fire, converting the molecules around us
if the flames banked all day leap in me at night
and if I am too tired to rise and write
if I carry the spark in me, conserving it,
but its bright engine keeps changing the fuel of my life
into ashes, ashes–if the first conflagration is over
and the long deep burn is underway
if I feed with my breath, if I burn hotter,
if I smother it, if I keep changing air into spirit
— Lesley Wheeler
from Heathen
Note: Interview with the poet coming soon.
Garden of Words 