Chemo   By now we know a thing or two about fire, how it quickens everything alive or dead or flickering between, and how to conjure it from nothing, how to give it what it needs, and no more — just enough oxygen, just enough life. We love fire, love to exult in our mastery, love to amaze ourselves with borrowed power. By rights we would be gods. But gods, they have their troubles, too — all that incense, all that dark insufferable mumbling, all that rain. Why do we put up with it? We just do. Star- crossed, marked for the burning at birth. Pain? By now we know a thing or two about pain.                                                                for Marti     © Michael Fleming Brattleboro, Vermont September 2011