Laura McDermott Matheric - Flame and Draft

The sultry lines of Laura McDermott Matheric’s poem “Flame and Draft” burn and flicker with devotion and passion. The intimacy inherent in the words of “Flame and Draft” is seared with sacredness, as Laura revels in the prayer, truth, solace, and devotional litany glimmering in the features of love. The imagery of this poem is alone enough to keep a reader warm in the final cold days of winter.

Flame and Draft

We are a prayer
written with sparks and embers
blown through the air,
spreading our wildfire
of rapid intention,
everything I burn to love.
Sometimes I play with the flame
just to remind myself I am alive,
touching finger to your glow.
There is nothing more beautiful than
the arousal of a place no one has ever touched.

What makes a fire burn is
the space between the logs,
fuel and absence of fuel together.

Our spark grows simply because of space,
openings in which the flame quietly knows
how it wants to burn and finds its own way.

You are the silent fire within my prayers,
everything I do not know how to say.
Silence replaces my sighs of your name
in long heated exhalations.
Let’s listen. That silence
tells the truth.
If you are too tired to speak
sit next to me –
I am fluent in your silence.
When we are all out of words
lie in my arms
as we watch our embers
float to the sky, the flow creating
a heaven-bound stream and current
with every crackle and breath.

Let’s let the logs burn,
fan our desires,
oxidize these flames
shorten its flare for quicker combustion,
its transparent blue
ringing a bright white heat
as it hisses and roars.

Keep kissing my world silently
with this fire in your eyes
and I’ll never ask for a reply to my litany.

Laura McDermott Matheric

Laura McDermott Matheric’s first book of poetry, Visions on Alligator Alley, was published by Lominy Books in 2015. A Professor of English, Laura regularly teaches writing workshops and literature courses at Broward College and throughout the community. In 2022, she was appointed the first Poet Laureate of the City of Coconut Creek, Florida, the first of any municipality in Broward County, furthering her efforts to support growth in education, the arts, and the community. Currently, Laura is pursuing her Ph.D. in Higher Educational Leadership and Research Methodology from Florida Atlantic University.