Controlled Burn(ing)

from St. Mark’s National Wildlife Refuge

 i sing a scorched song. walking the charred ground, the palm fronds and yucca still smoking, burning their black hosannas into the loam. i sing of the earth, born of fire, and born again out of each burn. this is a lightning land, the longleaf pine country, dependent on flame, on extinguishing. not all conflagration is death and dying, not all hellfire. remember the flicker of the cherub’s sword protecting the garden?—this is that breath of blaze. this is no dante’s inferno, though there are many layers—of time and of space. let not the brush pile for years, or it will burn beyond the edges of the branchless, needleless heights of trunk. up toward heaven, these pines are all kindling. up there, endangered species are hiding—the red-cockaded woodpeckers bang on this blackened bark like two-ounce jackhammers. praise the living heartwood where they feed, beneath the flame-licked bark grooved like tortoise shells. and praise the gopher tortoises digging their holes at the feet of the trees, holes which house all the animals when fire comes. praise protection in all forms, the fire chiefs spraying hoses of liquid flame, the firebombs dropped from helicopters. and praise the nighttime look of the forest from the coast—like some ancient city’s skyline, burning so bright you can almost hear nero gut-laughing. pray this coast does not succumb to the fate of the west; even a swamp can burn. do not think, because it is wet . . . do not think anywhere is safe. once, smoke blackened the sky over miami, blacker than the passover of the passenger pigeon. today flamingos landed in the refuge, hurricaned northward, pink harbingers of the new apocalypse, a flamboyance of destruction. everything is becoming strained, like a taught rope. the entire ocean, a high wire act which we know at any moment may fall on the land. and even that would not extinguish the wild flames. to protect ourselves and those we deem worthy, we burn the dead, and build soil for living roots to move.

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i sing a scorched song. walking the charred ground, the palm fronds and yucca still smoking, burningtheir black hosannas into the loam. i sing of the earth, born of fire, and born again out of each burn. this is a lightning land, the longleaf pine country, dependent on flame, on extinguishing. not all conflagration isdeath and dying, not all hellfire. remember the flicker of the cherub’s sword, protecting the garden?—this is that breath of blaze. this is no Dante’s inferno, though there are many layers—of time and of space. let not the brush pile for years, or it will burn beyond the edges of the branchless, needleless heights of trunk. up toward heaven, these pines are all kindling. up there, endangered species are hiding—the red cockaded woodpeckers bang on this blackened bark like two-ounce jackhammers. praise be the living heartwood beneath the flame-licked trunks, grooved like tortoise shells. and praise the gopher tortoises digging their holes at the feet of the trees, holes which house all the animals when the fire comes. praise protection in all forms, the fire chiefs spraying hoses of liquid flame, the firebombs dropped from helicopters. And praise the nighttime look of the forest from the coast—like some ancient city’s  skyline burning so bright you can almost hear Nero gut-laughing. pray this coastdoes not succumb to the fate of the West; even a swamp can burn. do not think, because it is wet . . . do not think anywhere is safe. once, smoke blackened the sky over Miami, blacker than the Passover of the passenger pigeon. today flamingos landed in the refuge, hurricaned northward, pink harbingers of the new apocalypse, a flamboyance of destruction. everything is becoming strained, like a taught rope. the entire ocean, a high wire act which we know at any moment may fall on the land and even that would not extinguish the wild flames. to protect ourselves andthose we deem worthy, weburnthe dead, and build soil for living roots to move.;fdldfffffadfl;a;jdf;lkajlkjdfl;daj;lkfajdkl;jafkl;adj;ldfkjadkl;jf;ldkajfk;adjfkljdkladjf;ljal;djaljda;lkjdal;kjdal;dk

//

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