Tag Archives: fire
The Heir
Behrooz had succeeded at being an Iranian for much of his youth, but the ghosts of the occupation were rising within him. Something had released them, and now he could feel them surfacing, plotting to occupy him. If only he had never heard the stories. He lifted the bourbon to his lips. Zal waved the [...]
The Occupation
Napping deep in his easy chair with cigarette smoldering, Behrooz Kermani dreamed, standing within the burning walls of Kerman, his vision locked upon the familiar pyramid of extracted eyes. The boy, whom Behrooz knew by the name Zal, was out on the open desert with his associate, weaving around tumbleweed, creosote, boxthorn, and Joshua trees [...]
Epilogue
Twenty years have passed since I left this place. Yes, I do visit on occasion. I might be drawn back by a memory of a sleepless night on a starry ridge. I might wish to sleep with the Giants once more. I might miss the golden glow of trout napping in the watery sun or [...]
Arm in Arm
Upon the aftermath of an inferno, Amid the ash, baked soil, and Blackened granite Of a fire-scalped ridge, I greeted the naked skeleton Of a lodgepole pine With a handshake, And forgetting my brutishness, Broke off a burned humerus, Heavy with marrow And unspent fire. Thus guilty of robbing the living dead, Avowed her disembodied limb [...]
I’m blind now, obviously
Beautiful, I don’t know how Your smile became an ocean wave, Tumbling everything over And over with Crushing saltwater power, Your eyes, binary suns Burning through the world, and I’m blind now, obviously, But the heat remains, Washing through your hair A whispering Autumn breeze Through the shivering Aspen, somehow, Beautiful.
Sacraments
I am serious about my religion. I don’t take its sacraments lightly. They may cause you discomfort: A long walk, a trusted companion, an open fire. I cannot imagine a relic, a book, or a doctrine more sacred. Perhaps you doubt them. Perhaps I doubt yours. A walk through a wood A walk through a [...]
The Hungriness of Stuff
We previously reflected upon the intimate, multifaceted relationship between ancient man and fire, and considered how easy it would have been for a man such as Heraclitus to conceive of the idea that fire is the fundamental constituent of all matter. Heraclitus was, after all, a subject of the Persian Empire, a land of fire [...]
The Burning Bush
When God spoke to Moses, God took the form of a burning bush. Why did an ancient Israelite think that God would take the form of a self-immolating bush? It might be natural enough to think that fire consumes a bush, but there’s another way to see it—the way that many ancients saw it: the [...]
The Biology of Fire
What is the color of life? Green. Certainly, most observers would agree. Yet when one considers what the green represents, one might not remain so certain. Green is the color of photosynthesis. It is therefore the color of the conversion of light energy to chemical potential energy—stored energy. Isn’t life better seen as the active [...]
The Hexad of Wisdom
In Zoroastrianism, the benevolent Lord Wisdom interacts with his creation through six gods—or principles—of his making. These can be thought of as the pillars of Zoroastrianism: Good Thinking. “Good” is regarded in two senses: both as beneficial and as effective. Thus wisdom and goodwill are implied. This “good thinking” is the means by which men [...]