(no subject)

[anasteuart]

My great-grand-uncle Richard Shaver was an interesting character, and wasn't the only writer int eh famil. His sister, my great-grandmother, wwrote Green Immigrants

At a family gathering, my cousin found a piece of poetry written by his oldest brother, Taylor Victor Shaver. Fans of Uncle Richard's work may recall this was the beloved brother who died unexpectedly. Uncle Richard's (self-insertion) character Mutan blamed his death on the dero.

Uncle Taylor took flying lessons with no less a person than Charles Lindbergh. I'd like to share his words with you, echoing through the generations.

FIRE

by Victor Shaver

Fire waves her flames
tosses bright sparks
coils smoke sinuously
in artful curvings -
Fire eats
Fire, the vampire, takes
solid things unto herself
embraces, kisses, languishes
over the roundness of the real
moves ecstatic hands in quick touchings
Fire loves
devouringly, warmly, radiantly
Fire eats its love, and dies
satiate.

Ashes remember
stir faintly -
lift and fall and drift
gray fragments
of bright what - has - beens
little grey faces
sifting, seeking
a glittering past
ashes
the dull present
the flat now
exhauster
Fire dies - of hunger.