Tinder - Chris Pureka

Breathing lessons and bleeding poems

Caught in my throat

If you bring the tinder

I’ll bring the fuel

I’d rather burn this down

Than let it go…

Before the grieving

Before the salt water rain

Before the strain sparks the engine

Sending speed to the wheels…

Before you’re shedding your skin

And I’m running for the coast

Before my chest is howling

With the songs of your ghost…

You should know

You should know

You should know, me…

How’d we get here?

Crime for crime?

It was only my mouth

If you bring the tinder

I’ll bring the fuel

I’d rather watch this burn

Than let it go…

Before the tail spin

Before the miles and miles

Before the reeling and the running off the rails

Before the fault lines tremble

Under the weight of the years

And we’re spreading the ashes out in the fields…

You should know

You should know

You should know… me