ÿþ<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd"> <html> <head> <title>soniat21</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>The Celebrants <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><br> &nbsp;&nbsp;<small>The police lieutenant said flatly that the gathering <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;was cancelled. He had no reason why. <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; --account of a celebration for the deceased poet <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Antonio Machado, February, 1966. Baeza, Spain.</small> <br><br> <br>The poet's cranium sits under a dust cloth, <br>his bronze eyes fixed on Baeza, <br>men and women ready for a day of homage in the park; <br>crowds of smiles swing up like morning bells. <br>The sun hangs heavy with occasion <br>as down come the orders from nowhere, <br>the festival alive with buses, horns, <br>a celebration that grows shrill then <br>starts to tilt, <br>bullhorn roaring <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>cancelled</i> <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>disperse.</i> <br>The roadway turns to a scramble, <br>La Guardia herding people, shoving with rifles; <br>constable's breath on the neck, <br>hot, sour, moving with <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>cancelled</i>, <br>snorting <i>basta.</i> <br> <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; * <br>1939: earlier moves in the mountains. <br>Car rattling north, <br>dust-lengths ahead of Franco, <br>Machado riding shot-gun, soothes his old mother <br>bundled on his lap. <br>Long afternoon for this trousered Madonna <br>and child. <br> <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; * <br>In Baeza Machado's head is cast in bronze. <br>The constable takes a step back from the crowd. <br>He blows one, two, then lets his silver whistle fall <br>to a charge of swinging clubs and guns. <br>A woman nearby scribbles on paper, <br>"how glorious that man's pistol is to him. <br>He waves it as if he were fencing, <br>furious, and absolutely out of his mind." <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>Cancelled </i><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>Disperse.</i> <br>Out of the question to ask questions, <br>these skulls knocked no harder than any in the past, <br>madness shaken out with the keepsake ease <br>of one, two, three. <p> </div> <div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;"><br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <small>First published in <i>New Orleans Review</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>