Kimberly Phinney

POETRY

When We Burn

Suddenly,
I realize what this is:
a bonfire.
And it is consuming our bodies
and lives
in the flames with a melody
that is horrific and mythic —
all the same.
And I hear the harmonies,
as they crackle in the
cold black sky above.

Somehow,
the sparks know how
to sear the right places
to hurt us best
and engulf our remains
as we try to protect
ourselves:
until we are embers,
until we are coals —
until we are soot —
poked and prodded —
until we fall apart
like the shadows do
when the sun slips
behind the horizon.
We, too, slip away
under the blue-white light,
which my father always said
was the hottest part.

And so I wonder,
as we burn down to ash,
what happens next,
when the morning comes,
and we are cold and damp
in the dawn’s dew —
when we are forgotten.

And somehow,
I am reminded
of something I once read.
Something in that Holy Book.
Something I heard
mouthed in prayers,
chanted from the pews,
when I was just an acolyte
and held the flame in my tiny hands
as I touched it to its sacred wick:
Our Father, who art in Heaven …
Give us this beauty for ashes …
Lord, make us new again …
And if you might, save us …

And so, we wait
and remember
and cry amen.

I cry, “Amen.”

I cry.

Amen.

Take These Ashes

This is just to say:

Father, I will lay my ashes bare —
allowing the lashings,
the unfastening of my life,
the scorn of the unabashed,
the sharp cuts of their fiery tongues —
if it means these ruins
I cup in my open palms
(scraped and shaking)
toward your crown
might be a lowly salve to save
the broken ones
you have deigned to reach
because I offered up
my life to you.

Lord, break me open
with your will,
and I will bleed
your love.

Amen.

Kimberly Phinney is a professor and writer. She’s published in Christianity Today, Ekstasis, Fathom, and more. A doctoral candidate, she holds her M.Ed. in English and was featured on Good Morning America for a national educator award. She was recently nominated for the Pushcart Prize, and her poetry collections, Of Wings and Dirt and Exalted Ground, debuted as #1 on Amazon in Christian Poetry in 2024 and 2025. Visit her community at www.TheWayBack2Ourselves.com.