Some words for the week

I guess the forest fires

are sort of like dying

in that we try our best

to live without thinking of them

until they are right in our faces

the smoke of a thousand pines

in our throats

and everybody complains

about my poems

lamenting the summer

and the risk of the burning

but I don’t want to look away

I want to look into the flames

I want to remember why

this is happening to us

why we have so much to lose

this is the reckoning of history

this is the end of an era

and I can only hope

as I drive the canyon to work

in a hazmat haze

that flowers can rise up

from what has burned

that something can rise up

and be beautiful again

Alexander Shalom Joseph is a writer from Gilpin County. He is a published author. For more information and to subscribe to Alexander’s Newsletter go to alexandershalomjoseph.com