"pyre, prayer"

today, harvesting flames
from the great dragon tree—
roots tangling and leeching,
withered like a tumor of
the bed-locked, dying earth.

i offer my prayer, blowing
petals on the ground and watching them
skirt and spiral like vipers
or paper kites amongst
the ash.

the ruby dragon sleeps
at the center of the world, busy
knowing and knowing.

now and then, volcanoes
sprout from the ocean.
now and then, the earth
stretches and moans and grows
wide.

i love the pumice smell
of dragon’s breath,
born and born and born.
blue, red,
green, brown,
sway, subside, succeed—

dragon fire birthing
the phoenix earth.