{"id":15535,"date":"2019-08-01T01:00:30","date_gmt":"2019-08-01T06:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/?p=15535"},"modified":"2019-08-01T01:37:48","modified_gmt":"2019-08-01T06:37:48","slug":"a-secret","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/archives\/15535","title":{"rendered":"A Secret"},"content":{"rendered":"

If a boy\u2019s palm curls to cup the whisper
\niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii<\/span>of flame, if he stands passing a butane lighter
\niiiiiiiiiii<\/span>back and forth with his friend,
\nit is to learn how beauty burns the fingers,
\niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii<\/span>how the forbidden holds inside of it the holy\u2014<\/p>\n

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii<\/span>the lighter\u2019s hiss and click a spell, an incantation
\niii<\/span>among young pines where Whatcom Creek runs
\niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii<\/span>below the hush of wind in cedars.<\/p>\n

His friend, who has carried in secret
\niiiiiiiiiiii<\/span>a tattered sack from the Lummi Reservation,
\niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii<\/span>now lifts a fountain firework, lights it
\niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii<\/span>and summons a shower of sparks
\niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii<\/span>into the dry, white heat of June.<\/p>\n

How could they know, standing just feet from the creek\u2019s edge,
\niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii<\/span>that the water itself would burn\u2014
\niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii<\/span>sparks blossom on the swirling current into a crest of flame,
\niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii<\/span>a rill of widening fire,
\niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii<\/span>a second creek skating on top of the first,
\niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii<\/span>radiant, ravenous, impossible, flowing upstream\u2014<\/p>\n

iiiiiiiiiii<\/span>while not far from the office of the company
\niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii<\/span>whose pipeline had leaked,
\niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii<\/span>I look up from my homework,
\niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii<\/span>the windows of my grandmother\u2019s trailer shuddering
\niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii<\/span>in their crooked sills.<\/p>\n

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii<\/span>Two boys, whose initials notched two desks at school,
\niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii<\/span>had discovered the secret leaking toward town\u2014<\/p>\n

iiiiii<\/span>boys my own age, whose names stand on plaques in Whatcom Park,
\niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii<\/span>whose stories parents whisper like a warning:<\/p>\n

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii<\/span>Brian Tsirovas, Wade King,
\niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii<\/span>they who called a secret forth into flame,
\niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii<\/span>who found a burning world inside our water.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

RYLER DUSTIN<\/a><\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If a boy\u2019s palm curls to cup the whisper iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiof flame, if he stands passing a butane lighter iiiiiiiiiiiback and forth with his friend, it is to learn how beauty burns the fingers, iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiihow the forbidden holds inside of it the holy\u2014 iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiithe lighter\u2019s hiss and click a spell, an incantation iiiamong young pines where […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2041,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[59],"tags":[25],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Jypy-42z","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15535"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2041"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15535"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15535\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15537,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15535\/revisions\/15537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}