Lustrous

lustrous effulgent radiant lucent
the heat at center burns a deep black-orange and the cedar two by fours collapse
creating sound where once peace and quiet,
maybe the purr of a cat
meowed.
Flame with its voracious appetite. Starved it seems for the very substance of its destruction, the ingredients of its meal consumed in flickers and salacious licks
Like a rabid animal
Swallowing
Before chewing
An entropy—total consummation. engulfed in flame are beams and panes.
Tools
nails
swept-up piles of kindling.
grey are the memories, now cinder, now flinty charcoal-esque ash
unrecoverable heap
brown-black soiled in soot
with a smattering of white snow
the hem of this dress,
unraveling.
I stare on the dank spot of those three steps, the lap of this place I’ve known as home, and, eyes closed, drift into the snuggle of your apron strings.