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     Still the flesh insists:
            thumbcap hard hat        new little
                pileup of cells     proud flesh
        mound         uninflated
crimson blister                      singed
    singing                 signaling  pain
            but also the event
                                           of burning
                                                           that I cannot remember
When:      fresh    new enough            last night?
How:                    dinner?       What did
          did I                         we                oh
plates                  warmed over
     no flame       no great                heat
How can flesh remember what the mind has lost?
    One hand holds the other
                                                    thumb    over thumb
             tracing    circles
     and lines      as though pacing
                                                                  to bring it back
through the barrier              splitting
         wound       from    its  shaping      moment
                   shape          from         event
that particular     now      from becoming     a
                                                                                then
                               his easy morning whisper: Candle—
         streams back      last night’s        power cut
                  the matchflame     climbing
                                      its short   wooden route
dull wick          to thumb.          I
           waited               watched
                as it lit at both ends
                                                     then water and water—