<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><p class="MsoNormal">Cinders</p><p class="MsoNormal">With every breath I take<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">I inhale the ash of homes<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">where families convened,<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">the trees that exhaled oxygen<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">and gave birds a place to rest<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">I breathe in the Safeway, the Taco Bell<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">that exploded in the dead of night<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">and the remains of squirrels and spiders<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">and grasshoppers, who had nowhere to run<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">as flames surrounded them<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p class=""> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">A hundred miles from the fire<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">There’s not a cloud in the sky<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Yet it’s still gray. And cold.<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Two small birds chatter outside my office<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">They can’t stay inside today, <o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">or wear masks to filter the air<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p class=""> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">A year ago the smoke came from our county<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">The pall it created spread thick and wide<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Today we inhale misery from far away<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">The singed dreams of our neighbors<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Knowing that nothing will ever be as it was<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">But that from the ashes springs renewal <o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p class=""> <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- Michael Shapiro</o:p></p></body></html>