words

i am volatile
like an open flame near gasoline,
i am the threat of spontaneous combustion,
arson sparked wildfires
tearing worlds apart
and shuddering embers
at the mention of vapor.

i am an explosion of the heart
carrying blood and nerve
through terminating footprints,
disintegrating form and memory
like napalm over treelines,
i spit flame and cough hail
and chew shrapnel and bleed smoke.

i am a terminal man
in crowded streets where disaster has reigned,
lifting promise from the pockets of refugees
and squandering them on cheap laughs, cheap souls,
burned out thoughts, languid as i sit
ready in the shade to spring upon any who may pass
and show their eyes at me,
who dare to witness my expression faltering
in realization of the way i have come to be.

-S.C. Martinez