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Magnesium Marrow-Bone

Listen!
You can hear her pale voice
from within the conflagration.
It always speaks truth.
It always lies.
She crackles like marrow-bone
when she walks.
Her eyes and mouth open
and burn like magnesium.
She is a contrary Gorgon;
everything she looks at
is forced into frenzied life.
If you are very lucky
and can run after her
until she catches you,
you can put her in a canning jar
to hold in the air:

a blaze of fireflies
to light the darkness.

—Sandra Kasturi, “The Burning Woman” from The Animal Bridegroom via Megan Kurashige

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