Fire Sky

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CLIMATE CHANGE

Fire Sky

 

The morning sky is brown

Like the rust of an abandoned car

The sun is fire orange

It smells of smoke and tar

The forest is burning

To the north and east

The forest is burning

Like a fiendish beast

 

Listen

You can hear the coughs

Look closely

You can see the flames

Breathe deeply

You can smell the charred remains

of homes that used to be

Breathe again

You can taste it

It is the taste of sulfur

It is the taste of dying

It is the scent of disease

 

We live in a land of flames

We breathe a toxic blend of

air and smoke and fire dust

We drink the spoiled waters

We pretend the sky is blue

and the water runs clear and true

We pretend the sea is green

and the rivers run forever clean

and the forest lives eternal