From Poems for the Burning West
“Like the Mom in The Road?”
fire woods fire brush fire towns
fire summer fire fall fire spring fire winter
suck breath
drought heat drought
the death of the West
the woods the deserts the towns
the danger the danger
rampage floods
not harvested, dry wells
the sorrow-fear of adrenaline
the beautiful West
my home my love
water Western heart
what will be left
but the stars
people with no water
animals fish fields with no water
but saltwater
what will be left
but dead soil
the looming is not looming
it is here
the water is drying
suck the sickness
the change
the tender ravaged
by tinder ember
what will be left
but the stars
but the Western dry sky
what will be left
but light when the smoke clears
and the glaciers on the mountain
melt and what will be left
after now when now is gone
maybe the barren blue sky
maybe I will give up
fear death walk
into the void
where the groves stood
where the rivers ran
where will that last door open
the one I pass through and when
Posted 08/02/21