Flint
Tell me how the big bang felt
Was it your spark at the center of the asteroid belt?
Before there was a fire
Before there was a thing for us to burn
Nothing’s where we came from
And nothing is where we will return
But I am here to learn
Tell me how it felt to be birthed
Could you tell from the outset that your planet was curved?
This metal table’s flatter
Than any other matter I’ve seen
I looked to you, protector
Your face was a projector screen
But I’m here to find out what you mean
Tell me how you first learned to speak
Because language is the landscape that gets left to the meek
Since then it’s been a mission
To find the definition of strong
Either it’s to flare bright
Or to smolder all night long
Anytime I guess I get it wrong
Before there was a fire
Before there was a thing for us to burn
Nothing’s where we came from
And nothing is where we will return
But I am here to learn
Tell me how your first love began
What’s your inspiration for woman and man?
When you cast them in your image
Did you hold a scrimmage within?
In preliminary thinking
Did you have an inkling who would win?
What a way for love to begin
Tell me how your first love split
With hot apple cider sweetening their spit
Their bodies getting wetter
Ignoring every letter of the law
If everybody’s fallen
Then is that what we’re calling a draw?
What about that one, pa?
Tell me how it feels to be divine.
If all of this is yours, then is any of it mine?
The lilies on the nightstand
The woman holding my hand before?
The tension in my shoulders
The peace-dreams of the soldiers at war?
I am here to be sure
Tell me how it’s going to feel to die
Will it mean as little as the days passing by?
Or is it like the cavemen
Who drill holes and trepan out their skulls?
Drain the evil humors
And the rumors that cluttered their souls?
Lay them in the tinder
And strike down a cinder of flint
After a fire
Does anyone inquire where it went?
Is this all that my life meant?
After the fire
After there’s nothing left to burn
Nothing’s where we came from
And nothing is where we will return
But I am here to learn