Evening Fire

Abstract

Evening Fire Eric Trethewey (bio) It starts slowly, gutters at the edges,and then the paper flares up fiercelyinto bright flames before subsidingto the slow combustion of damp wood. But it persists in spite of all, multipliesin intensity, until becoming at last allwe expected, warming the room, our faces,our hands, and the chill between our shoulders. What more might we ask for nowbut the blessing of words to hold back the dark,the steady burn, the recollection of sunlight,like memory, stacked up in the rings of wood? [End Page 144] Eric Trethewey Eric Trethewey is a native of Nova Scotia who lives at the foot of MacAfee's Knob in Catawba, Virginia, and teaches at Hollins University. He is the author of six books of poetry. His publication credits include The Atlantic Monthly, Paris Review, Poetry, Kenyon Review, and Sewanee Review. Copyright © 2012 Berea College