Meditation During the Evacuation During the Complex Forest Fire in the Santa Cruz Mountains During the Pandemic


Self-distance other-distance
shelter in place evacuate the shelter
relocate unreal-estate
allow-location-access denied
displace re-place no space
somebody else’s space
everywhere is anywhere is nowhere
for forty years wandering
then a home for forty years
home is now wandering
and the weariness of searching
the searching worn
and wildflowers wildfires
fire-flowers blossoms
of lightning on earth
we not looking upward
afraid to look inward
not seeing forward
past the past
not burying embers of fear
but exposing embers of sorrow
turning embers of lament
tamping the embers of uncertainty
under borrowed boots
from under masks
in the cool air we will breathe