Brian Daldorph
The Retired Fireman
still longs for blazing flame,
for arriving at the scene, sirens screaming—
he’s never had a woman who’s given him more.
First he has to smash down the door.
He can still feel the power of an axe in his hand.
Sometimes he’ll pick up a fire call on his Emergency Band
radio and drive out to feel again that surge
of adrenaline, that wildness trying to get out, that urge
to hurl himself into flame at whatever cost.
He wishes he were not lost
in the world of safety pins and coffee cups
and one more fall, one more furnace to start up.
He needs fire, and what he hadn’t realized
is how it gets into your blood, your soul, your eyes.
for arriving at the scene, sirens screaming—
he’s never had a woman who’s given him more.
First he has to smash down the door.
He can still feel the power of an axe in his hand.
Sometimes he’ll pick up a fire call on his Emergency Band
radio and drive out to feel again that surge
of adrenaline, that wildness trying to get out, that urge
to hurl himself into flame at whatever cost.
He wishes he were not lost
in the world of safety pins and coffee cups
and one more fall, one more furnace to start up.
He needs fire, and what he hadn’t realized
is how it gets into your blood, your soul, your eyes.
Page(s) 56
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