Poet's Workshop

photo by Gerry Williams

Poet's Workshop Presents: Poems From the San Diego Fires by Terrie Leigh Relf ©2003 All rights reserved

This month, I wanted to do something different, to provide a forum for poets to express their thoughts, feelings, and experience relating to the recent fires. Thank you to all of the poets who answered the call and who generously offered their work.

(Note: All rights to these poems belong to their respective authors. They may not be reproduced in any form without the express permission of said authors. )

The Fire

My heart
bleeds guilt
I stand
untouched
in my sin
God's fire
swept through this
valley

My house,
just like
those others
the same,
full of memories
and
memory treasures

no sparks, no flames
I am filled
with
the shame
of
survival

mea culpa
mea culpa
mea culpa

--Carl Cotton, ©2003

Seeing the Future

Where fierce
October fire

made ash
of oak & pine

wild April
flowers

through puma skull
& ribs of deer

--Rayn Roberts
During San Diego Fires 10/29/03

To Do List (During Wildfire Storm 2003)

· Sweep the ash from the walk
· Coffee / breakfast / NPR news
· Wildfires ripping up mountains
· Thick smoke a danger to breathe
· Buy a mask / milk / meat
· Wine / bread / water--
· Don't compete with the rats:
· The ship isn't sinking / drive slowly
· Tend the garden: weed your head
· Turn to jazz and joke, healing humor--
· Sweep the ash from the walk
· (The firestorm has to go out) --
· Call them Paradise Mountain
· Hellhole Canyon, Crest & Valley Center
· Julian, but never the same:
· All those apple & pine groves gone
· The death toll unknown:
· Bury the dead, remember the missing
· The puma / the fox / the deer
· Find flowers among bones in Spring

--Rayn Roberts ©10/30/03

Stand Against Fire

This is for the men and women
who were told to evacuate
and didn't.

Who stood shoulder to shoulder,
neighbors with neighbors, clearing
fire breaks.

Who shut off the natural gas,
who watered down roofs, wooden walls,
shrubs and lawns.

Who remind us that, sometimes
in life, it comes down to a choice:
courage or obedience.

And you will not find it inscribed
on a tombstone, "He did what
he was told."

--Fred Longworth © 2003

Apocalyptic Dust

"nature spent and exhausted, takes lovers back into herself,
as if there were not enough strength to create them a second time."
                                - Rainer Maria Rilke (First Elegy - Duino)

Lighter than snow
charred flakes
settle on vines
still green with sap

as nature's unending inferno,
excited by its own flames,
feeds on their fury.

The ash of eucalyptus
scatters particles of death
on red apple ice plant,

a vector wind blows soot
of animals, trees and man
that comes to rest on us.

In the bronze sky
masks filter these messengers
from our lungs.

Is it dust we mourn
or its origin born of loss?

No one can hold anything
for even a shallow grave.

When embers subside,
we sweep to forget.

- Seretta Martin © Firestorms, October, 2003

Fire, fire everywhere...

White house
wooden shutters
nestled in a pine grove
funnels of fire dance in the wind
ashes.

Stories
last year events
bind souls in a shelter
from other cities gifts pour in ~
hearts ache.

Firestorm
heroes battle
fight to breathe filtered air
cold winds blow clouds toward the land
answers.

Cold rest
light rain, soft snow
heaven helps end the war
gentle fall to avoid floods, mud slides
breathe deep.

People
united by pain
no race, no wealth, just loss;
they know they are the survivors
as one.

Red Cross
distributes gifts
shy strangers give out cash -
Halloween costumes and candy
for kids.

Sadness
to see just ash --
once a home with laughter
long vanished; should I rebuild soot?
Changes.

New life
new friends from old
where can I take the toys
for the children who lost it all--
too full.

Barbies
for Christmas gifts
to little girls with none,
no boy toys in my Toys for Tots,
just hope.

--zephyr ©10/30/03

The Descent of the Fire Beings

I was working in the studio
Making new images
All this light coming down to earth
A title came to me
Descent of the Fire Beings
That was before the Cedar Fire
Before the red bougainvillea
Cupped the grey and black flecks
The ash, like snow
Descended on the cars, the walkways

The sky, an opaque milky grey tinged with yellow
The sun, orange high in the sky
I had to force myself not to look
The smell of smoke in the air
Flecks of ash in my eyes
Stay inside
Don't use any unnecessary water, electricity

My community burning
People instantly cremated along with their pets
Hundreds of homes incinerated
The fires were not contained
They didn't know when they would be
Four fires, one would be the largest ever
In California

Heaven help us
Please
Send rain

--Susan Shellcliffe ©11/14/03

Rain Dancers

Once, during a drought, after a fire,
we danced up and down the street,

shook tambourines, finger drums, and
chanted, but mostly we laughed

at how sober we became once it began
to rain; tonight, when I look out at the sky,

at its different shade of dark, at the ash
as it still clings to my breath, I remember

that dance, how the rain gods listened,
if only for a few glorious moments.

--Terrie Leigh Relf ©November, 2003

Q&A:

Q: What is your resolution for 2004?

A: Send Terrie poetry questions! Do it-- do you hear me? I command you!

Send your comments and questions-and your poetry-to Terrie Leigh Relf at terrie@WritersMonthly.com

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