The Boy Who Loved Fire
I put down the burden of you
little brother at the back door.
as our father had before put down
the burden of his love and all that waste.
Everyone was gone, at ten I was left in charge.
I thought liquid could not burn.
Watched by our bungalow as your
six year old hands found gasoline noticed
how it could be uncapped and poured like water
into a steel drum.
Unzipped the joy of a struck match
flowered the air and dropped it in.
No flame appeared
you bent over the steel rim opened
the cocoon of your red love.
Susan Bazett