Pilot Light

Abstract

Pilot Light David Starkey (bio) And, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed exodus 3:2 Darkness had always been his comfort, but he could no longer stomach itwithout a couple of 357s. Then he'd loll for hours on the sagging sofa, ignoring the smell of cat piss and sour milk while staring at the fireburning in back of the oven's missing drawer—a little live thing that sometimes flickered but hadn't yet gone out. Mostly, he was too numb for terror,although recently the long-gone cat had returned, singing in the flute-like voice of an angel, and last night, when he was so high on Norcohis ears were screaming, the face of God exploded from the pilot light, thundering: This is holy ground! His trailer hummed with a honeyed lightthat shone beyond the wilderness. [End Page 53] Later, when they pulled his charred corpse from the wreckage, his cousin reckoned,He was what he was, remarking on the fact that the only unburned items were his shoes. [End Page 54] David Starkey David Starkey has published seven full-length collections of poetry, most recently It Must Be Like the World (Pecan Grove), Circus Maximus (Biblioasis) and Like a Soprano (Serving House). In addition, over the past thirty years he has published more than five hundred poems in literary journals such as American Scholar, Georgia Review, and Southern Review. His textbook, Creative Writing: Four Genres in Brief (Bedford/St. Martin's), is in its third edition. Copyright © 2018 University of Nebraska Press