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This writing was accepted for publication in the 108 page perfect-bound ISSN# / ISBN# issue/book “Impeccable Warriors” Down in the Dirt, v191 (the 1/22 Issue) Order the paperback book:

Order this writing that appears in the one-of-a-kind anthology The Ice that Was the Down in the Dirt Jan.-April 2022 issues collection book		get the 420 page Jan.-April 2022 Down in the Dirt 6" x 9" ISBN# perfect-bound paperback book:

It Came From the Fire

Donna Dallas

It did didn’t it?
with two sticks
red hot like Dis
it came out of smoke
and ash
rose up gnarled teeth
swallowed branches
spewed charred ashy
bits of blackened wood at us

We’d watch
spike it again
and again
just to see the burning of it
we carried the fire
around
in our pockets
lit that old bum’s blanket
afire
sent him running - well actually crawling fast
too damn drunk or high to run
blanket ablaze

It came from there
those yellow eyes
in a sooted face
tortured shape
burning
back to mounded ash
no telling when
it would come again

Four years later
in the attic
at Dolly’s
fumbling with matches
to light cigarettes
and burn crumpled napkins
it came then
came in big and hungry

We barely escaped
two out of three
Dolly swallowed whole
in seconds
a burning pyre

It came from the fire
it came for us
we weren’t ready

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