{"id":15704,"date":"2019-12-01T01:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-12-01T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/?p=15704"},"modified":"2019-12-01T01:34:35","modified_gmt":"2019-12-01T07:34:35","slug":"fire-fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/archives\/15704","title":{"rendered":"Fire, Fire,"},"content":{"rendered":"

my son calls out, imagines flame, light
\n<\/span>shooting from his hands, <\/span>Fire mountain.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

His hands\u2014<\/span>My boat is swimming\u00a0through fire<\/span><\/i>\u2014
\n<\/span>always unscathed.\u00a0My great-great-grandmother\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

burned\u00a0her whole right side when a vat
\n<\/span>of boiling\u00a0chenokorka\u2014black-rind, cherry<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

preserves\u2014spilled over her skirted thigh, ate
\n<\/span>right through the fabric. I imagine her hands\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

swimming through fire\u2014sugar and pits\u2014clearing
\n<\/span>skin of char. Her daughters would grow\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

afraid of boiling, never bring red fruit
\n<\/span>to the stove again. <\/span>Fire, <\/span><\/i>F<\/span><\/i>ire,<\/span><\/i> my son singes\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

the air with open palms and asks if I see it.
\n<\/span>My great-grandfather must have burned too,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

though none of us saw those flames either.
\n<\/span>My boat, Fire, Fire, falling fire.\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

When our people’s bodies\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

rose too high\u2014<\/span>My mountain, Fire\u2014<\/span><\/i>the Germans
\n<\/span>or Russians or Ukrainians\u2014anyone\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

without ashes in their blood\u2014discovered
\n<\/span>burning<\/span> always makes more room.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

They named the dead\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

a waste of space inside the earth, my ancestors,
\n<\/span>a certain waste above it. But burned, we became\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

fertilizer\u2014compressed or blown away\u2014lingering
\n<\/span>in soil and air\u2014eternal, unnoticed\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n

in my son’s hands\u2014<\/span>Fire, Fire. \u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

JULIA KOLCHINSKY DASBACH<\/a><\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

my son calls out, imagines flame, light shooting from his hands, Fire mountain. His hands\u2014My boat is swimming\u00a0through fire\u2014 always unscathed.\u00a0My great-great-grandmother\u00a0 burned\u00a0her whole right side when a vat of boiling\u00a0chenokorka\u2014black-rind, cherry\u00a0 preserves\u2014spilled over her skirted thigh, ate right through the fabric. I imagine her hands\u00a0 swimming through fire\u2014sugar and pits\u2014clearing skin of char. Her […]<\/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":[61],"tags":[25],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Jypy-45i","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15704"}],"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=15704"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15704\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15872,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15704\/revisions\/15872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}