Antiquity of Fire
Saint Paul, 15 March 2011
How early
did humans
control fire?
The question
of the antiquity
of fire burns
like an irreversible
brush fire no one
expects will stop
Still I excavate
burned bones and
scorched artifacts
with a stainless steel
dental pick and
a dust bellows
Delirious from sun
stroke I blow
friable soil one
grain at a time for
irrefutable evidence
of controlled fire
I learned of fire
for the first time
in febrile dreams
My hand blisters
before my digits turn
to carbon dust and
orange embers coddle me
from frozen death
come winter