Burning Oneself Out

A poem by Adrienne Cecile Rich (1929 – 2012)

We can look into the stove tonight

as into a mirror, yes,

the serrated log, the yellow-blue gaseous core

the crimson-flittered grey ash, yes.

I know inside my eyelids

and underneath my skin

Time takes hold of us like a draft

upward, drawing at the heats

in the belly, in the brain

You told me of setting your hand

into the print of a long-dead Indian

and for a moment, I knew that hand,

that print, that rock,

the sun producing powerful dreams

A word can do this

or, as tonight, the mirror of the fire

of my mind, burning as if it could go on

burning itself, burning down

feeding on everything

till there is nothing in life

that has not fed that fire

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Poems in English 

• Without You by Miraj Patel by Poetry In English
• Wild Soul by Michael Yuan by Poetry In English
• Why Me? by Michael Yuan by Poetry In English
• Why Do All Good Things Come To An End? by Michael Yuan by Poetry In English
• Urban Caterpillar by Minal Sarosh by Poetry In English
• Umbrella by Mike Yuan by Poetry In English
• To A Sad Daughter by Michael Ondaatje by Michael Ondaatje
• There Can Never Be Another You by Miraj Patel by Poetry In English
• Their Reposessions by Michael P Amram by Poetry In English
• The Wild Goose’s Will by Mike Yuan by Poetry In English
• The Tree and the Marble by Mike Yuan by Poetry In English
• The Time Around Scars by Michael Ondaatje by Michael Ondaatje
• The Only One I Can’t Live Without, Its You by Miraj Patel by Poetry In English
• The Only One I Can’t Live Without, Its You by Miraj Patel by Poetry In English
• The Natural History of Elephants by Milton Acorn by Poetry In English
• The lords above by Michael Nikoletseas by Poetry In English
• The Lonely Climber: A Seed Poem by Mike Yuan by Poetry In English
• The King by Michael Yuan by Poetry In English
• The Island by Milton Acorn by Poetry In English
• The Fraser River by Mike Yuan by Poetry In English

More external links (open in a new tab):

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Yandex – the best search engine for searches in Russian (and the best overall image search engine, in any language, anywhere)

Qwant – the best search engine for searches in French, German as well as Romance and Germanic languages.

Ecosia – a search engine that supposedly… plants trees

Duckduckgo – the real alternative and a search engine that actually works. Without much censorship or partisan politics.

Yahoo– yes, it’s still around, amazingly, miraculously, incredibly, but now it seems to be powered by Bing.

 

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