<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">Ash Migration</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><br></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">With every breath I take<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">I inhale the ash of homes<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">I breathe in the trees that exhaled oxygen<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">and gave birds a place to rest<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">I inhale the Safeway, the Taco Bell<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">that exploded in the dead of night<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">and the remains of squirrels and spiders and grasshoppers<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">and of people who had nowhere to run<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">A hundred miles from the fire<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">There’s not a cloud in the sky<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">Yet it’s still gray. And cold.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">Two small birds chatter outside my office<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">They can’t stay inside today, <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">or wear masks to filter the air<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">A year ago the smoke came from our county<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">The pall it created spread thick and wide<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">Today we breathe in misery from far away<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">The singed dreams of our neighbors<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">Knowing that nothing will ever be as it was<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">But that from the ashes, springs renewal <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>- Michael Shapiro</p></div></body></html>