Red Trees – a poem by Kate Rauner

Red trees,

Dead trees,

Burned by drought

To tinder.

Needles brown,

Dropping down,

Incendiary

Die-off.

Millions more

Before fall

Will die

In western lands.

Defensive sap

Can’t entrap

Beetles

In their bark.

Fifty years

Since such tears

For forest loss

That stretches on.

Red trees

Are dead trees,

Parched and dried,

Until they died.

I was struck by the term “red trees” to describe newly dead pines. California is not the only American state suffering drought. Trees die, grasslands burn, and the face of the land changes. Drought is part of natural cycles in “the Great American Desert,” but global warming is expected to exacerbate the current conditions.