Firewave
The word “firewave” has begun surfacing as wildfire events grow larger and more frequent. This poem borrows the term and imagines what it might mean for a heat wave to become inseparable from the fire it starts.
The heat wave has become a fire wave,
Summer winds sow sparks as bees sow pollen;
A planet slowly learning how to burn.
From America to Spain, the frightened flee,
From flames that chase them through the haze;
The heat wave has become a fire wave.
By boat they flee the coast, by road they leave,
As flames run faster than the word can spread;
A planet slowly learning how to burn.
Parched earth cracks beneath the scorching sun,
And every wind may fan the flames anew;
The heat wave has become a fire wave.
The seas grow warm, the seasons lose their way,
Old names fail us, new words must be found;
A planet slowly learning how to burn.
Until the Earth itself becomes the flame,
Until the forests, fields and cities merge;
Into one fire without boundary or name.
The heat wave has become a fire wave,
A planet slowly learning how to burn—
And dust might have the final word.
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