Devastation

 

Wind
like hundreds galloping horses
tear through the woods

breaking trees, felling power lines
like Archimedes’s eureka moment of sudden insight
sparks sprout

trees light up
hiding the stars
blaze dances, laughs, gathering energy

hellish felicity descends
fire pours it’s peaking power
valley asleep or dazed

immobile, innocent, whole neighborhood
stands on the way
leave, hurry, unprepared

Helpless

Swift in devastation
ashes, interrupted silence

morning comes

fields of desolation

grief, too heavy
even for God
to carry.

note: Multiple fires started in Napa and Sonoma shortly after midnight on Sunday. More than 1500 dwellings, 72000 acres burned down. 15 deaths,
and climbing. The fires still zero contained.

Mrs. Abstract and I and our families are safe. Several of our friends lost their homes.

what we try to learn

She ties tiny bells
on the hawk’s legs
Who is there? asks Hamlet
She tries to grasp realm of hearing,
wings will unfold space of possibilities.

I will find my Shakespeare
I will say the words loud, sitting
or walking where I am, my soliloquy,
seeking solace in understanding.

She will walk the hawk
teach it to fly, measure the sky.

Where we are we will not know each other
our paths will not meet
our thoughts may connect in devotion
our separate works on life and fulfillments
learning about grief and triumph,
devastation,and how to be human.

note: I’m still reading H is for Hawk by Helen MacDonald. I just registered for an eCourse, Shakespeare in Community, through University of Wisconsin-Madison. Romeo & Juliet to start.