By Alexandria K. Mintah
A blaze does not gently partake of its prey
Nor take lessons in manners
Nor mull over the use of the proper fork or plate.
Elbows in the table,
A blaze just binges.
Maw wide open,
Half-burnt buildings hanging down to the ground;
The fire feeds its way to wreckage.
It subsists on spoil,
Raze the whole block in a single bite.
Fire:
Belligerent, breakneck, petrifying terrorizing.
Yet, elsewhere, at occasions, at the same time,
Beautiful.
Auburn, red, and golden,
A sun so in love with the lowly earth
It came down to embrace and to dance.
A fall day so wonder-filled it folded into itself
To warm winter seasons with resplendent light.
How many multiples must there be:
Sweet and savage
Wild and wonderful
Peaceable and powerful
Ghastly and gorgeous?
How many multitudes might there be
Existing in all of us?
Alexandria K. Mintah is a graduate from CVCC’s Associates of Arts and Sciences Program. Currently, she works at a local library and dreams of the day she can place a novel of her own on its shelves. She has received a YoungArts Merit award for Selection from a Novel, and some of her other work can be found in the VCCS Exigence journal.