The Fireman finds the poet

I lifted him from the ashes
letters fell from his mouth
poached eyes glazed by fire
cinder curls falling to earth,

the dagger of a pen encased
in his tightly written fingers
pockets stuffed with papyrus
soaked in the fuel of dreams,

I sifted through his effects
springs from Greek machines
ends jammed into beginnings
elliptic pullies on plain strings,

inside the lining of his breast
I found a flower & a wolf's claw
under his nails I found gold dust
& in his mouth a tongue of smoke.


John G.Hall(C)2005