Best Wildfire Poems
How quickly anger
turns to rage, spreads
like wildfire, devours
whatever is
in its way
A grove of embers,
Destroying conifers dreams:
Searing foliage.
Wildfire
Written: By Tom Wright
3/20/2006
The wildfire’s aftermath has revealed,
Ditches littered with assorted trash.
Wildlife panicked, ran and squealed,
Sections lay barren, as blackened ash.
Houses and barns have met their fate,
And hay, by the ton, is left to smolder.
Volunteer firemen, fighting early to late,
Standing always, shoulder to shoulder.
On men and equipment fire takes its toll,
A burn ban exists throughout the state.
Who starts these fires, what is their goal?
Are they accidental, or just plain hate?
Many have lost all their worldly goods,
And wait while FEMA pinches its dime.
A life’s accumulation, a patch of woods,
Start life over, for some, there isn’t time.
Almost daily we hear the dread word, fire,
Whipped to frenzy by south winds gusting.
Sirens blaring, volunteers must not tire,
For life and limb to them we’re trusting.
Dedicated to the volunteer firemen
Who have faced a monumental task this past year.
Almost daily, wildfires have occurred
Many due to arson.
Tensely polarized
Fiercely alienated
Furiously devoid of
Space and peace
By deeds unjust
By antics blatant
Short-changed
****-noshed
Orphaned
Offended
From people
To pieces
An equation
Unbalanced
Sinister motives
Documented
Grand strategies
Visible mirrors
To annihilate
To assimilate
Partisan practices
Warped policies
Of can’t pilot
Be passengers
Lost trust
Lacks shine
Lost lives
Eternal
Galvanise
Demonise
Keep on to
Put down
Till one sees
The snake’s
Nude red
Buttocks!
ashes strike my nose
strong wind blowing from the north
smoke from distant fire.
The ground was crow-black
as the ashes took wing in the breeze,
flowing in hot breath across a
grief stricken earth.
Charred trees, now barren of leaves,
stood leaning...drunk, like numb sticks,
ready to snap with the next lash
of wind, whipping the flames into a
brazened brawl. Oh, but no shame there
as the earth lay bare for all to see,
raped by a blaze, begging tears
of mercy to fall, to slake the fevered thirst.
The air was thick with smoke
as all life sniffed danger, seeking
refuge- around a bend, beside a pond,
an edge, a corner- to somewhere beyond
the clash of ocean tides dipped in
wet mist...but the torch spread wider.
"Not here!" it cried to the coyote,
"Not here!" it screeched to the deer.
"Fly higher meadowlark!" (blinding her flight.)
"No, No, not here!"
Tumbleweeds scurried over seared land,
dying in barbed wire, as the flames
licked higher, stinging wheat's ear.
People bowed heads in prayer, teetering between
hope and fear- Then awakened to a
blanket of white, stitched by angels and
laid down by God, sometime in the night.
Miles and miles of dry brush, a tender box for fire
Just a spark and the inferno is burning
Smoke clouds and ashes billow high, in Hell's exhaust
The wind is the fuel for the wildfire
Firefighters fight with all they have, in hopes of turning
All wildlife are on the run, they hurry and scurry
Trying to escape the monster that throws flames
Their homeland, now a to a smoking ember
If they could talk, in their eyes you can see the worry
Yesterday it was fun and games
But not this hot September
Thunder rolls, lighting crashes down from the sky
A pine tree explodes, and all Hell breaks loose
Flames stampede, like a crazy herd of Texas Longhorn mavericks
And the animals wonder why?
Choking like they are in a hangman's noose
The old Devil smiling at all his old tricks
Burning for day and weeks, until it can burn no more
Leaves a scorched path, of a lot of timber
A scar, branded deep by the fire
There are no winners, just the final score
Memories, that they will always remember
That damn old wild fire
the scalding smoke
smothers
raging wildfires burn with bestial fury
toxic smoke saturates the Lower 48
smoky air sears through lethargic lungs
AIR QUALITY ALERTS!
AQI 80>100>300>400+
Codes Orange>Red>Purple>Maroon
purple dots proliferate on the map
N95 masks stage a comeback
The Big Apple suffocates in orange haze
the smothering sky
smolders
Never did a fire so fierce
Blow across the land
That same land
His heart did grow
Nourished by his sweat and toil
No more
The morning mist
Will hear his weathered voice
Call his horse
Com'orn
His mark
Has been scorched from its soil
And how that land
Greens, grays
And blacked haze
With gusts of wind
And rumpled hills
The fathering face
Of this dead man
Hidden beneath
Wildfire season - I inhale, and choke
On fiery air, try to blink away haze
But all the sunlight is full of smoke
Drizzling embers fall in a burning dose
Like stealthy predators, they come too close
Swallowing the land in a scarlet blaze
Leaving us homeless and broke
(this is a repost from a poem of mine from 2018 - I reposted it because the county in Oregon where I live is currently under a level 2 evacuation, which means 'be ready to leave on a moment's notice' - my niece and her family already evacuated. So this is more resonant to me today then when I first wrote it~)
like gossip, love's epidemiology
causal, a vector rampant spreading
has another uncontrolled physiology
a loving caring directional heading
love can't grow in a Petri dish
unless you're an amoeba or other cell
if agape's agar to feed, would wish
then i'd suppose it could, as well
diseased with affection and devotion
the prognosis a fortunate telling
incurable in time, your love's emotion
opportunistic transmission compelling
we could seclude with quarantine
but why would we want to isolate
and keep inside of what i mean
an infective germ so obviously great
to catch a love disease, not so good
on some picnic blanket by river of love
as catching love to be, could, would
with your desire of desires, free of
animosity for all of sentient beings
to less thinking with other leanings
hard to be unaffected when all around
everyone, everything is happily bound
one to another and each bound to all
devotedly catching incurable contagion
laughing 'til crying and having a ball
loving each other, and all civilization
what a lovely way we could live life
if we could forgive and forget our ire
without avarice, worry, or greedy strife
just let the love spread like wildfire
© Goode Guy 2011-06-21
http://lyrics.wikia.com/The_Paul_Butterfield_Blues_Band:Love_Disease
http://www.naturalnews.com/010825_counterthink_drug_racket.html
http://tierneylab.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/12/love-vaccine/
hit me with your best shot... ;-)
She's smarter than me,
I admit that with all my heart,
And I want to someday call her Honey,
But I am now packing my bags for I am planning to depart
Love can trick us,
It's a poison that could either cure or kill,
But we love for a purpose,
And that purpose is to feel
Together is a word we both are familiar to,
But we refer them to other people,
We love each other too,
But our love's as fast as the star's twinkle,
We are both broken,
Let's not make this difficult anymore,
For all the time we both taken,
Let's take this thing finally to Death's door
Don't cry darling,
Our love started like the blowing of gunfire,
Not enough time for falling,
And we got caught in our own Wildfire.
Wildfire season - I inhale, and choke
On fiery air, try to blink away haze
But all the sunlight is full of smoke
Drizzling embers fall in a burning dose
Like stealthy predators, they come too close
Swallowing the land in a scarlet blaze
Leaving us homeless and broke
To rebuild, we are left on our own
The red ink of insurance protects only their greed
They cynically say we should have known
As an 'act of God' they don't cover
It is on our shoulders to recover
Their profit more precious than our need
But we are not beaten; tenacity is home-grown.
8/15/18
I heard
the sirens from afar
I knew
the back door wasn’t barred
and when
the wall of flame arrived
they found
what they’d been looking for
they’re gonna let
they’re gonna let
they’re gonna let
they’re gonna let
they’re gonna let
they’re gonna let
they’re gonna let
they’re gonna let
they’re gonna let
it burn
we gasped
as wildfire swept the hills
we knew
nothing was left behind
and when
the blaze consumes close friends
we lose
all hope of rebuilding
they’re gonna let
they’re gonna let
they’re gonna let
they’re gonna let
they’re gonna let
they’re gonna let
they’re gonna let
they’re gonna let
they’re gonna let
it burn
the ash
so dark and delicate
white smoke
still rising from the red
and with
the dragon charred and glass
they found
what they’d been looking for
they’re gonna let
they’re gonna let
they’re gonna let
they’re gonna let
they’re gonna let
they’re gonna let
they’re gonna let
they’re gonna let
they’re gonna let
it burn
The intensity of a blaze raging out of control,
A passionate fury can be glimpsed in the glow;
wild desire running high, drifting into fantasy,
emotionally consumed by the ecstasy.
Reality melting down around me,
replaced by the pleasure heard in my sighs;
Love is told by my body's gyrating stir,
as the flame brightly flares in my eyes.