blister & burn by Natalie Hampton (17, Texas)*

My mom tells me of ancestors 
who blister & burn: blazing glory 
then charcoal corpses collapsed under 
dirt and soil, under torn and sewn roots 
like stiches in skin, under memories 
soaked into the ground through eons 
of rain and blood. ​

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                              In this land, 
                              count   The Celts. 
                                            The Picts. 
                                            The Romans.
                              The Queens and Kings and bastard monarchs. 
                              (Royalty speaks with high viscosity, words 
                              dragging through time long after they're gone.) 
                              Count the Vikings and farmers and artists, count 
                              the notches in the hierarchy that pressed against their 
                              throats until they only knew how to breathe in deference. 

***

eruption on Red Hills on the Isle of Sky: fifty-six million years ago
lava and steam shot into sky (I tell you: they danced), entire world raised one & two / three & four / five & six / seven & eight – eight degrees. Now, the slightest increase sends wildfires licking up land, snuffling baby cries faster than a pacifier. 

hundred eighteen degrees, human skin burns. hundred sixty-two, human skin shreds like ribbons and melts. when the flames dance, they are in the thousands. we blister & burn. 

***

When the Scottish died, 
they were     buried in chambered cairns. 
Without individuality, communities 
dispose     together. Same bacteria     breaking     bodies, 
same beetles         gnawing     holes, 
same worms     finding homes in the     coils of intestines, 
                moving between bodies     like neighboring bungalows. 

When clans went to war, soldiers placed stones in a pile. Survivors reclaim theirs, the rest built into memorial cairns atop the tombs. Cuiridh mi clach air do chàrn, "I'll put a stone on your stone.” But beneath the stones, we blister & burn. 

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