After the Burning

Scarlett Peterson

the down-peer of a doctor’s headlamp
blue and yellow sterility                     after my roll through                the ashes
for years I wondered               what I was forgetting  

what met my mouth and took me out            the stories                                how I’d spun across
the family reunion                               my small body
bounding down                       some hill                                  a microcosm

clay and crystal handing me to the pit           a warmth                                  I cannot remember
some dumb luck saving me                                                                                                                                        
from sitting in the embers    a boon                                      a respite                       

from the ache that abraded my arms             blistering                                 a scene across my skin 

a small constellation                                                                            only I can map

Scarlett Peterson is poet, essayist, and lesbian. She is currently working on her PhD at Georgia State University. She received her MFA at Georgia College. Her work can be found in Moon City Review, The Lavender Review, Cosmonauts Avenue, Peculiar, Pidgeonholes, Gargoyle Magazine, Ponder Review, Madcap Review, Counterclock Journal, The Shore, Poetry Online, Skink Beat Review, Eunoia Review, and more.