Emily Strauss- A Poem

Burning up the World, at least part of it

Trying to make a fire, I started with wood shavings

And brown pine needles, but they were still damp

From the rains. Then I tried tiny oak twigs and

Maple leaves but all I got was a pile of smoking

Rubble. Finally I got angry and tore the middle

Pages out of the old atlas starting with North

Dakota, and crumpled the northern plains

And set them on fire.

They too took a moment to catch as if grass

Can’t burn when it’s covered with ice.

I added some of the Ozarks for good measure

And soon I had a blaze of Midwestern heat

With flames licking the last of the prairie

Curling up to the Great Divide. I roasted

My toes in the warmth of the orange dance

And fed half-burnt pages from the neighboring

States until the whole country was lit and a cat

Stood in the circle to feel the heat of it.

Soon the sky cleared until only a white ring

Shone around the moon and I finally tossed

Even the poker into the fire and watched it

Leap into the conflagration as two moths

Appeared.