TEAM FLAME, a Hermit Crab Essay in a baseball lineup card

Nine At-Bats

BATTING SEVENTH

Number 12, Second Base, FALSE FIRE

 (Coaches note: known for the glove and turning the double play)

I spent years looking for the dramatic burning bush while overlooking the smaller flames surrounding me.

The welder’s torch.
Lantern light at the cabin.
Woodstoves in February.
The flare of match heads.
Campfire smoke and flame registered in flannel jackets.
The orange tip of sunset over Arizona’s red rocks, Hawaiian Pacific swells, or azure Wisconsin lakes.

Moses would have missed the light too if he had been waiting for the big spectacle.

But now that I know, I’ll listen for the still small voice, watch the silent, sparking ember disappear into the catcher’s mitt, a bright planet disguised as a baseball.

Tomorrow, batting eighth, number 21, Catcher, Burning Civilization

# # #

^{Burning excerpts from Stories Emerge Like Bears, a Cornerstone Press forthcoming lyric memoir in 2028 exploring wilderness, memory, labor, rhythm, motorcycles, drumming, fire, and the sacred atmospheres and languages of place.}