800 Fires

Pray for Rain

Where I live in the Inland Northwest in the greater area of the Pacific Northwest we have five seasons: Spring, Summer, Fire Season, Fall and Winter. We arrived a bit early in Fire Season this year and when I was challenged to write a poem around the sense of smell, wildfire smoke rose to the top - pardon the pun. This is the poem that was inspired by the many, many fires currently burning across the US and Canada.

Pungent, acrid fingers of wildfire smoke
strangle the clear, blue skies to hazy brown.
The nasty stench is one of death and destruction.
I catch a whiff of ignited wood and leaves.
Manmade structures burning to the ground
in a path of wind-fed blaze gobbling fuel as it builds.
Lightning sparks the parched trees and grasses,
thunder echoes the roar of catastrophic inferno.
In the roiling dark clouds is the salvager,
singular drops begin to lightly fall into forest below.
They gather as an army of heroes coming to the rescue.
Mixing and mingling with the smothering smoke, 
pulling it down, down on top of the feral flames; 
extinguishing, quenching, stealing the power of the fire.
The trees audibly sigh with relief soaking up the steady droplets.
Blazes sizzle with submission as the rain becomes a downpour. 
Smells of musty soil saturated with healing water;
smoke’s heavy vapors doused as clouds begin to part.
I breathe in the perfume of fresh rain and clean air
blended with the subtle scent of smoldering pine.


Over 800 wildfires still burn currently in the US and Canada. 
Pray for rain.  

Photo credit: Chase Walz