the internet shows
there is rain elsewhere;
people celebrating
with summer fun.
it is not armaggedon
outside their windows;
no red sun an eery ball
in a tawny coloured sky,
no ashen needles settle
on sunflower leaves.
where they are
no threatening glow over the hill
disturbs their hope of sleep
while smoke kisses the suitcases
and bags stacked at the door,
for when the word comes.
.
.
.
Forest fire season in BC! In the last 5 years the summers have been getting consistently scarier. 4 of the 5 were horrible smokey years. While we’ve always had fires in the summer, generally it was rare to have one near communities and one bad fire summer would be followed by many fine years. I don’t remember my childhood in the Okanagan filled with smoke. But now it is the norm. Climate change sucks. A fire that started with a car accident about 38 hours ago is now a raging 800 hectare (~2000 blaze) only 25 km away from us. Very, very, very scary). Our bags are packed and we’re ready to load up if we are put on alert.
Shawn L. Bird 