Unburn a Candle

HOW TO UNBURN A CANDLE

by: AMANDA SUN

down,

on, my table I try to give the wax back to itself. Butter yellow puddles solidify fingerprints onto my fingertips as they attempt slip melted wax back onto a wick.

It’s a bit too late as The wick is no longer a wick it’s CO2 H2O heat and light and I try to think of lightness in the air I breathe

The light needs darkness in order to be called light and where is a light of friendship when you run out of wick?

Carbon sequestration is a hot topic: Basalt rocks that grind into powder drink CO2 from the sky.

I ask basalt: can you return the water, heat, and light to a candle? The energy in light photons running into one another can these be corralled into a braid of white cotton dipped in yellow beeswax? I don’t need a scientist to tell me no, not yet. She won’t return to consciousness yet.

What do I do with this gap between now and discovery?

I can never return my candle to itself. When down to a waxy stub, the sides rise up beeswax unburnt but one side is more than it’s uneven and I did not know a candle would leave a gap