My Love is A Careful Arsonist

We’d been living in the apartment for 3 months

And the baby came soon after

We had vaulted ceilings, a fire place

And I hadn’t slept in weeks

I was just discovering

My love

Is a careful arsonist

An expert fire builder

A perpetual log turner

So here we are on the carpet

Cider glass in hand

As the flames grow larger

The orange heat a welcome presence

On the surface of my skin

Outside, the first fireworks sound their way

Past the sliding glass

Somewhere, we know, people are cheering

Welcoming the new year

Looking forward

While I am looking to the baby monitor

saying goodbye

To the year I spent pregnant

to the last remnants

Of the self I once was

On the brink of who I will be

The gentle crackling

the low, wooden shift

for the first time since birth

I am properly warm