by Jennifer Schmitt Carnell
To altar
is need re-lented
ashes to ashes
control repented
To altar
the kneaded in coals
risen then broken
many parts, one whole
So altared
on knee, delivered
priestly and kingly
forgiveness whispered turning the margins
that fed it
to ashes,
in other dimensions
a fire won’t end
in self-suffocation
but will send pulsing
roots
into limbs
into houses,
where love and rage
will crumble the rafters
to gray, which moulders
on pillows spun
by worms. This one coal among many, gripped by tongs to
diamond density, touches the lips of a prophet
and returns to the sacrifice.
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