alternative uses for birthday candles

open the top drawer of
the farthest kitchen cabinet 
to the left & take out a handful
of birthday candles--
you know which ones i mean--
the skinny ones that sob 
wax & grow from icing
count me out ten or so--
preferably in the color blue--

1. 
in the whole house 
light a single candle &
watch how hungry you've 
made your shadows--
coax them from out
beneath your desk &
your bed & let them 
bask in the tiny flame 

2.
drip a trail of
wax when you leave
the house at night
so they don't trick
u into getting lost

3.
get lost but on purpose
this time 

4.
flip over the full
moon like the head of a coin
so that it sits dark &
tails-up

5.
when you walk to the corn
field don't be afraid
to step inside-- make
popcorn with the heat of
the singular blue candle

6.
aligns fire's flicker
with you breath 

7.
when the candle goes out
re-light it on the sun--
only the sun & if it
begins to rain curl yourself
around it-- don't let
it know there's a storm

8.
tell it the name you 
wish you were called--
tell it the secrets only
spoken on your wordless skin--
tell it the kind of 
body you melt into--
drip wax on the way home 

9.
get lost
not on purpose this time--

10.
plant your candles in the ground 
in rows until they burn into
fig trees-- into blueberry bushes--
into an apple orchard--
& when they are done growing
sit down beneath them
& go back to the kitchen to
get more candles--

11.
lick the icing off the base
& bake a cake out
of dirt & jarred
light from the moon

12.
eat under the fig trees--
let their roots
entangle around you-- run
their fingers through your hair--

13.
lie to them & tell them it's
your birthday 

14.
they will know you are lying
but they will sing anyway 

15.
sing like a wind chime 
or a door bell

9.
in the thickness of the trees 
get lost

10.
leave off figs & apples 
& when you stop in a pool
of wax you will remember
that is this only candles 
& in the chest of every tree
is a fire that will eventually
go out

11.
watch the leaves melt &
let hot wax drip from your
mouth in place of 
the fruit you ate--

12.
& if you want to dripping
to stop-- blow our the candles--
all of them in one gust of
wind that somehow comes
from your mouth--
blow out the trees-- the leaves--
the foot prints your
left in blue up the spine
of your back yard--

1.
keep your wish 
under your tongue--
light the last candle from
the drawer & swallow it whole--
flame & all, then 
open your mouth & speak
to the moon 

& get lost as a door bell--
when the candle
goes out re-light it