I’m Not Any Of the Things I Used to Be LII The Atlanta Review, Fall/Winter 2020

Was it perverse

to light the woodstove

while the power was cut

for fire danger?

I could take dark, but not

cold and dark.  Maybe

that’s why I like to burn

the candle by your urn.

I remember how cold

your feet were in bed.

I remember something

each time I strike

the match, bring it

to the wick. Like the night

I raced you home, stripped

my clothes as I drove,

flipped the top of the hot tub,

slipped in as you pulled up.

The moon shining from

the surface of the water.