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Fire
by Bernice Holtzman
1.
If You Were Fire
If you were fire
Then I could be
air
Surrounding you,
but never confining
Always allowing
you your freedom
To expand and rise
as you saw fit
Sometimes I’d
gently fan your edges
Coaxing you higher
Exciting your
color deeper and brighter
A tribute of
sparks popping from you
And dissolving
into me.
But I think I
would end up being a glass
Turned upside down
over you
Meaning only to
touch you
Embrace you
Shelter you
Feel your warmth
But slowly and
finally
Snuffing you out.
2.
If I Were Fire
If I were fire
My flames would be
too wild for you to handle
You would shrink
from my heat
Beating me back
with your disapproval
Walling me in
until I was tamed
Contained by your
limits
Of manageable
size.
You would never
let me go out completely, though
For then who would
give you warmth
When you needed
it?
© 1999 Bernice
Holtzman
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| Art by KJ Hannah Greenberg © 2023 |
Bernice Holtzman is an author of poems, short fiction,
autobiographical pieces, two (so far) children’s stories, and all manner of
clever commentary. Her work has appeared in The National Poetry Magazine of
the Lower East Side. That was 30 years ago, and she’s still talking
about it.
KJ Hannah Greenberg is eclectic.
She’s played oboe, participated in martial arts, learned basket weaving, and
studied Middle Eastern dancing. What’s more, she’s a certified herbalist, and
an AP College Board-authorized teacher of calculus. Her creative efforts have
been nominated once for The Best of the Net in poetry, once for The Best of the
Net in art, three times for the Pushcart Prize in Literature for poetry, once
for the Pushcart Prize in Literature for fiction, once for the Million Writers
Award for fiction, and once for the PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the
Art of the Essay. To boot, Hannah’s had more than forty-five books published
and has served as an editor for several literary journals. Channie’s latest book is Eternal not Ephemeral, Eternal not Ephemeral: Greenberg,
KJ Hannah: 9798852494016: Amazon.com: Books, a collection of fifty tales, including "Absinthe
for Aliens," "Isabelle," "Transitory Unease," and "Special Teeth," which were originally published in Yellow Mama or Black Petals.
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