"combustible" by Dustin Miller

before the fire
there was the claim

if this is ours
what part of you
can happen
alone

the park
where we made
a church
of open air

the borrowed witness

the room
that gathered
to prove
what had already
happened

the ring
closing
its little mouth
around the finger

and calling
the circle
faith

amor
no—

not that kind

not the kind
that kneels
on both sides
of the flame

and asks
which one of us
owns the burning

i wanted
a word
with smoke in it

one that did not
come back clean

focu ’ranni—

great fire

or only
what the body says

when it stops
being grateful
for the cage

because the cage
was gold

i did not become
unfaithful

i became
combustible

there is
a difference

one
is accusation

one
is condition

one asks
who lit
the match

one asks
what had been stored
too close
to heat

so let love
stand back

let it watch
what it cannot bless

let it learn

not everything
leaving the body
is escape

some things rise
because heat
requires them

some vows break
only after
the self
has been kindling
too long

and still
i will not apologize
for the fire

not because
it did not burn

because
it did

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