Warming up in the arena

The arena is oval
intentioanlly making

the full circle of time
longer
to come back around.

And again, there she was
propped on top 

of the highest hill
and I, as usual, 

stood down on
the slope to the sea.

We smelt smoke
simultaneously
lifted noses and sought out the source
at the same time
the lighting changed 

at once, dramatically.

The sun, abased,
hid his face,
and then ashes fell in fat white flakes
resembling a December snowfall.

The chimes rang in the festivities,
discarding suddenly
the carols for a cacaphony.
Twas an ode to Saint Ana, played
in her lowest latitiude
in lieu of Saint Nick
from the shrill Northmost pole.

And again,
it was watching the horses
that knocked the wind out of me.
I found myself suddenly breathless,
trampled and tethered to death-again
it was familiar, like a rerun of hooves

and clapping.

Under a change of directional
winds, the brittle atmosphere
carried things this way

on a warm winter day.

Amid the sea of grey, the longshot,
made a circle of gates

sent forth as smoke signals and 

red flags at the finish line.

One time we will learn
it is by noses alone
that races are won
or lost.

Photo credit by cogdogblog (https://www.flickr.com/photos/cogdog/2672008614/) [CC0], via Wikimedia Commons.

May Day, May Day

May Day, May Day

In a moment

the azure pre summer sky

FUMED!

from nowhere

plumed carbon black

ominous clouds amid a serene backdrop.

a bomb with no sound,

waiting.

Wretched silence plays notes on nerves

frayed.

Fierce gasps

gusts of billowing ash

snow of fire.

screams of sirens

wail frantically

thumping blades of helos 

cutting skies unseen

A white out all red aglow

this gray day in May.

Constricting breaths

with every gasp and gale.

Stoking and rising

from all horizons

caught in a cage

of an inferno blaze.

The dragon sky is breathing

igniting fear

Fire-nados churn

In the valleys of

glowing golden mansions.

A new day opens the still smoldering sky 

the crimson sun still rises.

The toll is taken

molten fragments

broken shards fused

a jigsaw puzzle with all the wrong pieces

a war in never won

when the smoke disappears

damage has been done

yet evermore

the heavenly blue sky

breaks through

without a scar,

traces of char

cannot touch

that which cannot be sooted or shattered

that which is indestructible

that which is fireproof.

The human spirit is our foundation

that stands eternally supporting

solidly holding on

to the important things

The immortal human torch.

which will always rise above the flames.

Published in the 2015 Embers and Flames Anthology by Outrider Press.