you're gonna burn your house down

(edited)


you stood on that hill. you saw the fragility
of the fields, finally the wind as fugitive air,
your dad's hands as flaccid fists.

was i any help? here have my anger,
my absence, my fear of absolution.
will time be fodder for us or dirt
in a shallow cut? you opened
and leafed through

death like a stained magazine.
you stood alone on the hill behind your house.
they asked how could a creature small as you
be capable of so much ruin?

.

there is rain on your windowsill.
your uncle jay blazes below in the side garden.
you turn the pages of anna karenina.
an ugly edition. my hand up your thigh.
in the kitchen your mother cleans dishes.
your sister dries them.

your hair is so long.
your skin is so deathless.

.

in the ashes there are answers:
age is aloof, like fathers. like the wind.
you were alone on that hill. now
its old moss and alders are sooted black.
those who asked have learned
you are only small the way
a mind would be, if held in a hand.