ÿþ<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd"> <html> <head> <title>soniat1</title> <meta name="GENERATOR" content="Arachnophilia 4.0"> <meta name="FORMATTER" content="Arachnophilia 4.0"> <meta content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" http-equiv="content-type"> <meta name="keywords" content="Soniat, Katherine Soniat"> </head> <body style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" alink="#ff0000" link="#0000ff" vlink="#800080"> <center> <table style="text-align: left; width: 753px; height: 32px;" border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2"> <tbody> <tr> <td align="center" bgcolor="#ffe4bd"><big><big><big><big><span style="font-family: Algerian;">WORLD VOICES</span></big></big></big></big><br> <br> <div style="text-align: center;"> <big><span style="font-family: Blue Highway; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">THE FIRE SETTERS</span></big><br> &nbsp; <span style="font-family: Blue Highway;"><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">BY KATHERINE SONIAT<br> </span></span></div> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <br> <table style="text-align: left; width: 751px; height: 32px;" border="1" cellpadding="20" cellspacing="10"> <tbody> <tr> <td style="width: 150px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 204);" valign="top"><br> <font color="black" face="arial, helvetica" size="3"><b>Contents</b></font> <p style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><small style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);"><style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"> <span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><a style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);" href="soniat.html">Home</a> <br style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"> <span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><a style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);" href="intro.html">Introduction</a><br> <span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><a style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);" href="bio.html">About the Author</a> <br style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"> <a style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);" href="soniat1.html"><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Dog Days</span></a> <br> <a style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);" href="soniat2.html"><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">The Cathedral at Chartres</span></a><br style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"> <a style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);" href="soniat3.html"><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Grafitti</span></a><br style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"> <a style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);" href="soniat4.html"><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">The Dream Salon</span></a><br style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"> <a style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);" href="soniat5.html"><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">The Givens</span></a><br style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"> <span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><a style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);" href="soniat6.html">Street Kisses</a></span><br style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"> <a style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);" href="soniat7.html"><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Cool Theatre: Oyster<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Plot</span></a><br style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"> <a style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);" href="soniat8.html"><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Nightshade</span></a><br style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"> <a style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);" href="soniat9.html"><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Flower Viewing</span></a><br style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"> <a style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);" href="soniat10.html"><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Painting White<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Mountain</span></a><br style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"> <style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"> <a style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);" href="soniat11.html"><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Composure</span></a> <br> <a style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);" href="soniat12.html"><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Impoverishment</span></a><br style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"> <a style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);" href="soniat13.html"><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">The Wanderers</span></a><br style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"> <a style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);" href="soniat14.html"><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Solstices</span></a><br style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"> <a style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);" href="soniat15.html"><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Ghost Laundry</span></a><br style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"> <span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><a style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);" href="soniat16.html">Family Story</a></span><br style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"> <a style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);" href="soniat17.html"><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Blame it on the Cows</span></a><br style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"> <a style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);" href="soniat18.html"><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Day Spool</span></a><br style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"> <a style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);" href="soniat19.html"><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Hestia</span></a><br style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"> <a style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);" href="soniat20.html"><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">The Fire Setters</span></a><br style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"> <a style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);" href="soniat21.html"><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">The Celebrants</span></a><br style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"> <p style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><a href="http://chapbooks.webdelsol.com/worldvoices/index.htm" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"> World Voices Home</span></a><br> <br> <a style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);" href="http://literaryexplorer.webdelsol.com/">The Literary Explorer</a><br style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"> <a style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);" href="http://writersonthejob.webdelsol.com/">Writers on the Job</a><br style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"> <a style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);" href="http://booksforgottenorunknown.blogspot.com/">Books Forgotten</a><br style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"> <a style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);" href="http://thomasekennedy.com/">Thomas E. Kennedy</a><br style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"> <a style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);" href="http://www.waltercummins.com/">Walter Cummins</a><br style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"> <a style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);" href="http://webdelsol.com/">Web Del Sol</a><br> <br> <br> </p> </span></small></p> </td> <td style="vertical-align: top;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;"><br> <center> </center> <center> <div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;"><big><big>Dog Days <br> <small style="font-style: italic;"><small>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </small></small></big></big></span><br> <br> From the window <br>I watch the blue containment of noon, <br> <br>and every day the dog trots into it, <br>pees sprightly on the clover, <br> <br>then makes headway through the timothy grass, <br>his coat full of seed. Perhaps <br> <br>he has some idea of what wants him <br>and where to go, and since he's no skeptic, <br> <br>he goes&#151;rye, corn, the whole fermenting <br>season ablaze, the dog running off <br> <br>as if to make August history. <br>Who's to say <br> <br>his is not the same lithe world <br>that swayed before pharaoh's daughter <br> <br>and the baby in the bulrushes. <br>And this sun overhead <br> <br>heated the earth when voices flared <br>a final, frantic time <br> <br>for Joan on her pyre of wood. <br>Precise, these moments <br> <br>of lives waiting in reeds <br>or balancing atop the sticks, <br> <br>while the dog flops down <br>after a day of futile adventure, <br> <br>the ravine glistening with wings <br>and an undergrowth of eyes. <p> </div> <div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;"><the belled="" air="" ringing.=""><br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <small>First published in <i>Amicus</i> and <i>Poetry Daily</i></span></small><br> <br> <span style="font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;"></span> </the></span></div> <small><span style="font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;"> </span></small><br> <span style="font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;"></span> <span style="font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;"></span><b><font size="5"><br> </font></b><font size="3"><br> <br> <br> <br> <br> </font></center> <font size="3"><br> <br> <br> <br> <br> </font></span><font size="3"><br style="font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;"> </font></td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <br> </div> </body> </html>