Breathing and Burning

Jessamyn Fairfield

First the eager flame, lapping at melt,
Then the closing lips, over sated.

Feeding wax into a burnt down wick
Like milk-softened bread into a baby’s mouth.

Molecules jostle, expanding to be lighter than air,
As the slender ribbon dances against gravity.

Eyelids open onto plasma, a window to atomic states
Whose nature weaving oxygen reveals.

Gleams of emerald and marigold as metals are
Consumed, combusted, transfigured.

The same flames consumed mountain pines
Like torches back in Cerro Grande.

This is power, to uncouple matter from itself,
Seeding the future by destroying the present.

Alive with heat, breathing and burning –
We fled through canyons from the crimson sun.

The Science

This poem explores fire, a form of energy with which humans have been familiar throughout history which is surprisingly difficult to explain. The colours of flame, the way it ripples upward when there is a gravitational force, and the insights it gives us into atomic energy transitions in different elements are all tied to images of flames as they impact human life: as a candle, a thing to feed and tend, and finally as a forest fire which threatened the author's home. At the same time, certain ecosystems have been found to be well adapted to fire – with some species such as mountain pine even depending on (moderate and not too frequent) wildfire occurrence to thrive.

The Poet

Jessamyn Fairfield is a scientist and writer based in Galway, whose work has previously appeared in Crannóg, The Toast, and Viewpoint. She is a physics lecturer at the National University of Ireland Galway, where she leads a research group in nanoscience, physics education, and public engagement.

Next poem: Enso by Alan Garrigan