This is how life can turn,
on ghosts of smoke, spin of air
and flare of yellow as
clouds grab and release
the weighted, bilious sky.
My toes seek the rarified wetness;
my breath does not halt and drag.
This thundering morning
is not (for me) like the other eleven
as firestorms snagged and exploded
not so far from this locked, taped door.
Long hours have been disappeared into jaws of flame,
bound by smoke, thief and master.
Who believed that time could be erased
by a manic advance of fire that roared,
massacred like hordes unleashed?
There are too many who dread the final report.
But here, now, I unlatch, open my door a crack,
lift my nose to sniff a slick of breeze,
push outward inch by inch into open air,
step into the diffident moment and
an exhausted, mourning earth,
a world that still spins within loss.
I cannot believe any promise of full healing.
Every step now feels like a lingering cry,
a call to wilderness whose great heart blackens.
Still, now, these feet of flesh and rain
hold fast to the primal dirt,
my face lifting to a startle of sunlight.
Tales for Life 
Having just gotten back to So Cal from Seattle this last week….the smoke all the way up and down this long western coastline…unbelievable!! Hope all is well with you!
It must have been sad and a more than bit harrowing at moments. I do hope all is okay at your home place. We are doing better with good air quality today; the rain has been such a gift here. Regards-C
We are finally seeing blue skies down here…the local wild fire is still not under control, but smoke going out to desert and not back to the city!
Same here last 2 days–but smoke off to the Cascade Mtns. and beyond.
Good poem. I’m thinking the worst is over for you?
For our area, it seems so. The rains came and the smoke dissipated; fires are better controlled. But untold numbers lost their homes…we have lost 1 million acres so far. Thanks, Derrick.
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