my brother raps on the door:
“do you see what’s going on out there?!?”
we gaze at the inferno from the window
i throw on clothes, join them outside.
we can feel the heat,
night sky lit orange
the first building an unfinished wood skeleton
burns with ferocious intensity
small tornadoes whip up from the fire’s heart
blur the line between flame and smoke
embers shoot up into the sky,
blot out stars with their falling Milky Way
hail down on us, a fiery snowstorm
some wide as your fist
one lands in my wet hair
smolders til knocked away
scent of singed hair mixes with campfire
then the second building goes up
its almost finished
shingles, sidings, insulation
shifts the smoke from wholesome campfire scent to toxic plume
lucky the smoke is high.
*******
no one lives in the unfinished buildings.
we enjoy shock & awe without guilt
the beauty is terrible and humbling
but we are safe
i think of the age old war tactic
of burning villages & cities
imagine this heat and ember hail and smoke
but running terrified, choking, heart-hammering
from flaming home, soldiers ready to pounce
*******
who did this?
i joke it was the deer
revenge for Urbandale destroying
their forest-home.
*******
fire wizard (kanata 4 May 2010) Photo Credit: Curtis Chaffey
we are fascinated and terrified by fire
small & controlled, fire serves & comforts
can be a candle for kindness
but
fire is wild
fire is ready
fire is hungry for opportunity
in a heartbeat,
fire can blaze from servant
to angry god.
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hailsorm of embers (kanata fire 4 May 2010). Photo Credit: Curits Chaffey
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note: title inspired by Louis Helbig’s Beautiful Destruction photographs of the Alberta Tar Sands
flourish 