How to Ignite Polite Fires
By Em Arata-Berkel
WARNING!
Only burn on a level, fire-resistant surface.
Burn with an extinguisher in sight.
Keep away from flammable objects.
Keep away from children, open windows, or heavily trafficked areas.
BURNING INSTRUCTIONS
Acknowledge the aspirations of a long wick, then
trim to a quarter inch before lighting.
Savor the experience.
Enjoy notes of smoke, wet concrete, pepper spray,
and what you—the rugged individual
must do to fix this.
REMEMBER!
Keep wax free of any foreign materials, which
may generate more fuel than your bell jar can handle.
Do not burn more than four hours at a time.
Cool at least two hours before lighting again.
Stop use when only a finger’s width of wax remains, then
tell yourself you know what it means to ignite trashcan bonfires, raise a barricade, hold a line, pour water into a stranger’s burning eyes, and fourteen hours later, pass along your new friend’s red vine moonshine while feeding stale corn puffs to a blaze fused with a screaming watercolor dawn.
Em Arata-Berkel is an emerging poet who’s taken root in the Pacific Northwest. They earn coin by untangling taxonomies and are seldom without a cuppa something. Their poetry can be found in the award-winning anthology I Sing the Salmon Home: Poems from Washington State and the digital Washington State Queer Poetry Anthology. Find them online at erratawrites.bsky.social.
Photo credit: Filipp Romanovski via a Creative Commons license.
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