blue crystals of copper sulfate
white powdered strontium
mortar ground and blown from hand.

ignited by star dust

green flash!

and scarlet glitter falls to eye lashes
full and puffed away.

one for luck
one for tinder

you write my name in ash
passing fingers and beads through colored flame
just fast enough.

dragon-fire breath
singes hair in need of trim
hold mirrors steady...
steady, make sure everything is even

before the fall

open eyed,
oxygen to soil.

we study patterns in glowing star charts
reinvent history and magic.
the self appointed cartographers
of the sky.


� 2004 by Jenifer VanBuren