JULIANA DAUGHERTY

October

Wild flare, the white heat
burning out, burning

on nothing. My body
has no body now, grows

feral, flings itself
outside its boundaries

like a yard left too long
unattended, like a yard

on fire. All night
I smoke & listen

to the wind's insistent rasp
in the branches outside,

noise like matches spitting
into light. Is this what it takes

to impress you?
Nothing can subsist

on limit only. I know.
But I'm nearer brilliance

disappearing
than I've ever been,

& fearless now—all skin
& tinder, furious

& crazed
to begging, feeding

blazes. Even
if my voice is ash

before I ever sing.