fire season


        i think of you and a crow 
        charges out of a spruce tree 
        screeching black exclamations
        into a suddenly windy evening. 

        smoke from fires in high 
        forests is settling into 
        this valley.  the smell of it 
        insinuates itself into all our 

        corners.  everything has been 
        hazy all day.  as the sun 
        falls the dimming sky turns 
        red and grey over the burning 

        mountains.  down here 
        the wind is chilly.  birches 
        wave their frilly arms with  
        dry, flammable noises.  


        S. Brogan  08/19/96