Behind Old Smokey
by Rachel Hoyt
image by Keerati via freedigitalphotos.net
When they named me Smokey,
Do you think they knew?
Did they set that spark free
To shift blame to you?
What if mitigation
Is just a nice myth?
What if propagation
Is every thing's pith?
Word around the forest
Is that you don't know -
Flames don't die, they just rest
While smoke steals the show.
Copyright © 2014 Rachel Hoyt. All rights reserved.
(Some researchers at UCSB inspired me
to wonder what Smokey would say if he could see
the results of their wildfire study.)
We live at the leisure of nature
ReplyDeleteAs much as we hate to admit
The world burns before us and after us
But that doesn't mean we will quit.
If a spark starts a blaze
Sometimes it's from God
Sometimes it's biker with a gas powered hod,
A cigarette, lightening, Johnny Cash's truck
What's ash in the end is a matter of luck
The animals run, or fly if the can
The Hotshots scramble, the news cams pan
The Scientists scribble
The Honchos debate, "should we save area z?"
What is fate?
If it sweeps up the Riviera
We will send in an extra team.
If the Hurricane Deck is rolling in red
It's a bit more complex than it seems
You can burn all the facts like cordwood
But it all comes down to this
If we are the one's with feet to the flame
Somebody's gonna pay for it
This doesn't mean for a moment
That you shouldn't be careful with matches
On a personal level no one deserves
The shame and guilt that attaches
What a fantastic rhyming response! :)
DeleteThank you Rachel, you inspire me
ReplyDelete