Sister Fire, Brother Smoke

 

Have I become an accomplished liar,

a man who believes in his inventions?

When I see my sister in every fire,

 

is it me who sets her in those pyres

and burns her repeatedly?  Should I mention

I may have become an accomplished liar,

 

a man who was absent when his sister died,

but still feeds those flames in the present tense?

When I see my sister in every fire,

 

am I seeing the shadow that survived her

conflagration?  Because of my obsession

have I become an accomplished liar,

 

who strikes a match, then creates a choir

of burning matches, with the intention

of seeing my sister in every fire?

 

Is she the whisper of ash floating high

above me?  I offer these charred questions.

Have I become an accomplished liar

if I see my sister in every fire?

 

     Sherman Alexi