It’s getting harder to see the line
Between the edge of my skin and the next man’s goosebumps.
“Am I on the cusp of creation or incineration?”
A worm in the wake of a lava flow
asked the earth the same.

“Burning is learning” the Kashi boatmen say.
I say, there is no way around this fire.

When the ash bird stirs,
Nothing will change
Or ever
be the same again.