# Books are Burning



## C Curtis (Jun 2, 2010)

*“And you know when they burn books/People are next.” – XTC*


  Words lick into ash
  curl up concisely,
  like they were written for this moment,
  and every time before it,
  reading always leads to this:
  a final fiery kiss.

  Torch in the sky
  lighting up fragile minds,
  in a time when we should just
  come together.
  Be together.
  Ride out this bad weather
  and poor form we’ve been feeling...
  Why burn books 
  just to get warm?

  Don’t buy that explanation
  your whitewash won’t stick here
  Even if I'm sanded down first.
  For once
  your words won’t do the work.
  Cannot excuse the worst eleven years
  of incompetence 
as governance.


  If you wield your power
  in burning your own words,
  You’ll be shoveling hot ash
  To choke on.

  I refuse to stoke the flames
  of a dead ember Prime Minister,
  whose sinister intent begins with books;

and certainly ends 
with men.


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