Inferno

By D.S. Martin

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Blessed is the fragile fortress of the forest floor
where the flare of fox fur   is enough to suggest

conflagration   where auburn needles fall 
from a dry fir like flakes of snow   Dead branches break

in a high wind,   & brittle sticks await
the careless flick from a cigarette The flame   

first birthed in a match   awakens with heat 
where kindling's stored   takes fleet leaps 

from birch to birch   where each leaf crumples
if scorched   yet will still fall if left to pay 

the yellow cost of October's slow burn
as cool first creates loss   & cold soon fosters frost

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D.S. Martin is Poet-in-Residence at McMaster Divinity College, and Series Editor for the Poiema Poetry Series from Cascade Books. He has written five poetry collections including Angelicus (2021), Ampersand (2018) and Conspiracy of Light: Poems Inspired by the Legacy of C.S. Lewis (2013). He and his wife live in Brampton, Ontario; they have two adult sons.

D.S. Martin's other work on Foreshadow:
Beginning & Beginning (Poetry, April 2023)
Sweet Savour (Poetry, June 2023)
Ruins Remind Us (Poetry, September 2023)