Kyle Hemmings
Scent of Burn
On a night or day, hours after you’d left, I rolled over onto the pillow that you’d slept on and it still smelled like you. Tu perfume, of hard work and sorrows. It did a thing in my brain, that scent of you, shooting jolts into my chest, threatening to blaze, a feeling I gave no words. It frightened but surprised with seductive fascination, demanding reserve and keeping under guard, telling no-one, not even you, because I suspected, believed, wondered, was afraid I wanted you more than you wanted me, in my heart, mi corazón of bruises and mourning. It was an instance of decision, the kind of detrimental choice where a soul is thrust down bigger and further paths, any of which might or might not kill it with regret. One, to rip off the linens, the pillow cases, the sheets, the everything. Throw them into the laundry pile, shoving deep to where you’d fade into the confusion of sweat and life. Or the other, to ignite the flames, a pyre from which I’d never emerge, bury my face into your smell, inhale you and the peace of those moments of coming to rest in the middle of the night or in early dawn, wrapped in you, feeling dangerously safe with you, whispering truths and revolutions, sinking into your skin from toes to forehead. Silence was the safety, keeping to myself, the shade of you, the rush hoarded selfishly in my pain, thinking it was respecting yours, never wanting you to know that quietly, alone, decidí a quemar.
Kim Denning teaches at the University of Texas at Austin. She is an unapologetic advocate for equity in schools and prefers her music loud. As a mixed ethnicity Latina claiming both El Paso and the Austin area as home(s), her writing is inspired by the contrasting Mexican-American and Texan cultures which have shaped her life. Kim has been writing poetry for years, but only recently pursued publication. Her first published poem appeared in the Last Stanza Poetry Journal.
Kyle Hemmings has work in Crossroads, Sonic Boom, Otoliths, and elsewhere. He loves street photography and abstract art. He also likes 60s garage bands.