Jim Daniels & Charlee Brodsky

Campfire of the Dead

The campfire of the dead

is damp with futile wishing.

It comes with instructions

in Swedish. Or disappearing

ink. It allows no shortcuts.

It is missing one piece,

and that piece is called certainty.

The campfire of the dead

comes with no accelerant. Instructions

say just breathe on it.

Instructions say, Spell the name

of your god with these dry sticks.

Whose bones are these, you wonder,

rubbing your hands together.

Jim Daniels’ fourteenth book of poems, Birth Marks (BOA Editions, 2013) was selected as a Michigan Notable Book and received the Milton Kessler Prize. His fifth book of short fiction, Eight Mile High (Michigan State University Press) appeared in 2014. Daniels teaches at Carnegie Mellon University.

Charlee Brodsky, a fine art documentary photographer and a professor of photography at Carnegie Mellon University, describes her work as dealing with social issues and beauty. In 2012 she was honored to be Pittsburgh’s Artist of the Year chosen by Pittsburgh Center for the Arts. A selection of her awards includes the Tillie Olsen Award with writer Jim Daniels for their book, Street; an Emmy with the film team that created the documentary, Stephanie, which is based on her friend’s life with breast cancer; the Pearl of Hope award given by Sojourner House for her work with her students in the Pittsburgh community; and Pennsylvania Council on the Arts fellowships. She continues her documentary projects but also has a body of work that uses her little white dog, Max, to voice words by great thinkers. This work is a series of artist books and prints and can be viewed at: www.thespotpress.com.