“Catch your fire, don't kill

Hold your fire, don′t kill

Learn your fire, don't kill

Be the fire, don't kill

Catch the fire

And live”

-sonia sanchez

Fire

Is about dignity

How do you tend to it?

I burned it

Pages of you

Torn from the binding

Shredded

All Seams

No substance

Frayed

Threadbare

I search these edges

for what’s left

Of your

integrity

screaming

exposed

inflamed

devitalized tissue

rotten sinew

you cannot heal

what you hate

i curl my lip, reach for my liver

filth eater

make what is septic, bitter

equal parts resilience and vigor

Feed and nurture the flame.

one hand to the earth

one hand to the womb.

inhale, exhale

release to make room

Begin again: Re-member your name.

My grief is an honor

You can’t take

Can’t silence

My love

Endures

Insists

Regardless

My love is a field you cannot damage

I reclaim what’s mine, what you took for granted.

I return you your shame, your sickness, your famine.

Fire is about dignity

and how you tend to it.