the burn of
smoke in lungs and
the panic in my pulse and the
leaning in to do what i have to do and the
pulling back at the searing which strangely
only arises on my biceps
(and face)
_______
we clink the tips of our
flame-tamping shovels in the are above us
as we stand at the edge of
charred field
sweat-saoked and snot-slobbered i say
something about sandhill scouts
earning our prairie fire badges
_______
lounging pondside under
treebranches and vines
the appearance of a goldfinch
the call of red-winged blackbirds
the sight of two spiders sparring on shared branch
(furry and black with a red back half)
and a small blue-white-grey-black bird
(finch size) with long beak
landing atop
dam deck
_______
drying on towel
sun on skin and limbs
still sweating
book opened i think
this is a form
of love
_______
what happened trish asks
regarding my red splotched biceps
hours after standing flame-side
in field nine tamping the
wander of too-quick-moving fire
on a day of indecisive wind and
four newbies who laugh beforehand
at being four newbies out here
on our own
_______
mica, tookie, ty and i
on front porch in past-sunset dark
sound of talk and frogs/toads i ask
for a silhouette charade demo of
how to clear the clogged
flour grinder
_______
tookie’s grandpa-voice saying
fire break and praire lung
and tyler and i laughing
so hard at this whole
field nine prairie burn amateurs fiasco
tears rivulet down
my cheeks
_______
i’m ok with being alone i say
sitting atop the old well with trish
as sky pastels and clouds over
before trish breaks down attachment theory
and says something about a dating pool
of avoidants which is suddenly hilarious
to us both
_______
first eve this season of sleeping
with windows open pond-dwelling
choruses calling up
to my dreaming ears
_______
detail collector 