Daniel Saalfeld’s poems have appeared or are forthcoming in The Hopkins Review, The Southeast Review,
The Seattle Review, The New York Quarterly, Tar River Poetry, Margie, Poet Lore, and The Pinch. A Fulbright Scholar recipient, he lectured on American poetry in Russia. He teaches creative writing at the George Washington and the Johns Hopkins Universities.
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Extinguishing
1
In the tub, I watch a small cranberry-
colored candle burn as water
drains around my thighs.
I hold it in front of my eyes
and singe a long strand of hair
in its flame, pulling away,
then coming back again,
seeing how close I can get the hair
without it burning. I test
the flame’s strength like this
twice, blow out the candle,
and watch smoke roil around
the hot and cold handles,
silently up the white tile.
2
I will have seen an old lady,
looking like marble, walking her dog.
The jazz on my radio will sound too jazzy,
and everything outside will seem too silent.
A black squirrel will scuttle
in front of my car,
and the world will gently end
the way moist wedding cake dissolves.