| Throw Words on the Fire by Katherine Fishburn | ||
for now I have had to lay down my quiver of pencils put aside my fat sable brushes still flush with water— there are too many images already images that are endlessly repeated wherever I turn red images tinged with orange that flash and are gone gray images outlined in black that swell and rise like the thermals made visible wind-swept particles of yellow ochre that disable the mighty fighting machines and burrow under the loose folds of cloth to worry the weary skin of guileless soldiers who they have learned had not been adequately informed of what lay ahead as they stormed out of the bay ready for action onto the plains of the country they had been ordered to save *** but where are the images we had been told to expect? those of welcoming smiles and hands raised in jubilation eyes filled with glittering tears of relief and thanksgiving— the smiles have withered to narrow channels desperate for water the hands lowered to snatch their neighbor’s share of the limited food being distributed the eyes are dark and silent as trees struck by lightning: they rebuke me yet all I can do is throw words on the fire (March 27, 2003)
Katherine Fishburn's first collection of poems, The Dead Are So Disappointing, is published by Michigan State University Press (2000). She is the author of numerous essays and scholarly books, the most recent of which is (click title of book) The Problem of Embodiment in Early African American Narrative. Katherine Fishburn is Professor of English at Michigan State University. Click here to read more poems by Katherine Fishburn. |