DRIVING INTO FIRE

DRIVING INTO FIRE

Driving into fire with my Father tonight

The sun like a cherry in a froth of gray

The black folds of earth and the hanging haze

Of smoke as the flames form steeples

And molten fields explode across houses

Cities sunk in cinders, as Father sits beneath the fig tree

Surrounded by palm and citrus, mouth agape,

Under robes a man of mute, scattered memories.

Fire climbs the ridge and feathers the canyon wall

Chaparral globed with blood ignites

Headlights crawl through the volcanic light

That shimmers on pools, pale dying iris of sky.