Jeremy C Kester

a poem

There is fire here
So often smoldering
Hiding
Waiting
Burning still this endless fuel
Life supplies
Bits of wood
Scraps of coal
Little pieces to stoke a flame

And I keep trying to smother it

It feels how sometimes
Like today
A teakettle screaming
The man I am poking the fire
Trying to control it
Keep it from raging
Keep me from rage

Fault lies somewhere
Questions unasked
Answers hidden
Excuses both for and from me

Another few pieces of coal

Days like today I struggle
Wanting to lash out
A barbaric scream
Flames lick at my heart
Daring that I submit
Should I submit?

Moments of calm do come
People like buckets of water
Trying to cool what cannot be
Tempering this conflagration
Before it engulfs me

What pain I could offer
What pain I want to offer

Cathartic
Pushing this solvent ladened fluid
Pigment compressed in fibers
Forming words of fire’s heat
This isn’t hate so much as pain
Solidified and burned

How can I rid myself of it?
Do I really wish to?
This anger feels right
As wrong as it might be

Photo and words copyright © 2025 by Jeremy C Kester – all rights reserved.
Note: this is also cross-posted to Poetically Unlicensed on Substack.

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