What We Packed at 3 A.M. - Katherine Hastings

[Larry Robinson]

What We Packed at 3 A.M.

 

 

The dog 

the drugs

 

The cash

the cards

 

The elder neighbors who couldn’t drive

 

We packed our fear

though it couldn’t be contained

 

We crawled in our cars

as the fire raced 

 

through its feast

of everything

 

of everyone

or everyone’s dreams

 

Everywhere we looked

RED    RED

 

We called friends in the hills

No answer

 

We cried Jesus Christ!

No answer

 

The fire jumped and morphed

and ate some more

 

Garage doors wouldn’t open

Trees blocked the roads

 

The red sky

grew wider and taller

 

and shot its off-springs

into the air

 

to ignite their own

smorgasbords

 

We unpacked our prayers

to all the gods

 

we don’t believe in

And when we reached safety

 

we watched our phones

(we packed those, too)

 

for news and it

wasn’t good.

 

Yes, we had each other.

Yes, we were alive.

 

But our world,

our beautiful Sonoma County world

 

What we packed

wasn’t the mountains

 

wasn’t the deer

the coyotes, the quail

 

wasn’t the mountain lions

or mountain lakes

 

wasn’t Willi’s

or Fountaingrove

 

wasn’t Coffey Park

or the field of larks

 

or the knowledge

it would take two weeks

 

to get back home

or that home would still

 

be there

or that the gorgeous golden grass

 

just outside our windows

would change overnight

 

into candles waving

their virgin wicks

 

 	- Katherine Hastings



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