Wildfire Afternoon
A Poem
We play Animal Crossing until noon, and then
Swim in the apartment complex pool
With the tiny bodies of flies, bees, and moths as
Company, pray tell what ambitions should one have in a pandemic,
What poems should a poet write,
What odes to nature when nature is on fire?
What ode to humanity
When humanity is a burning match?
We swim surrounded by the smoke of nearby wildfires,
Week three now, week after week things burn,
We are our own island, we swim until we feel
Our throats hurt, our eyes sting,
And we go back inside, sit side by side in our towels and
Play together, each of us queens of our own island,
Each of us safe and happy, each of us making friends
And creating a world where nothing ever has to burn.
©Jenny Justice. All Rights Reserved.
Jenny Justice, Poet. Sociologist. Teacher. Mother. Woman. Author of Love in the Time of Climate Change and Reveal. You can read more of her poetry at Justice Poetic. Sign up for her newsletter here. Follow her on jennyjusticepoet.com.
Jenny Justice 