a transcription of the poem read on the home page of this issue

by A Van. Jordan

As if two girls were starting a fire
On all sides of my daughter,
She is set ablaze: the girls swing
Two clotheslines between them
As if they were goddesses
Holding two country roads
Leading to each other; neighbors
Surround her syncopated dance
As her seizure of heat begins
To flicker on the moonlit sidewalk—
Now, the ropes are white hot—
Her hair ignites in the upswing; her barrettes,
Like petrified butterflies, click on the off beat;
Her knees pump like she’s walking on red coals;
Her arms flail as if she’s calling the rain
To put her out; she jumps, she flirts
With the flame: she jumps backwards
And then turns forward,
Rocking in and out of the light,
Her hands testify around her head
Or pose on yet-to-be hips, till
Her fire snuffs out as wind blows cold,
A car with flashing lights
Slows past, and the braids of our summer night
Surrender to gravity.

Poem copyright 2005 by A. Van Jordan. All rights reserved.

See more poems from A. Van Jordan on The Fight & The Fiddle: “Hex,” “Bored, Tamir Chooses to Dream,” and “Fragments of Tamir’s Body.” 

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Read more in this issue: Interview | Critical Essay | Writing Prompt