Haibun: Arizona Fires

Fires spread across the desert, smoke now part of each landscape. The reports surrounding them involve location, acreage, and percent contained. These fires, their smoke, are too obvious for those on the valley floor to leave out of our conversations. Some days, I wonder if a cloud of smoke is a dust storm. Sometimes, I’ll over hear one person asking if that could be rain, only to be rebuffed with “nah, that’s the fires.”

Removed, we speak out of curiosity, but in the fires, we would only know the language of urgency and survival. Whether it’s a force fire or a protest on police violence, our language and views are all based on proximity. 

smoke from the mountains
desert dryness obtained. insane!
summer heat maintains.

& Haiku: Arizona Fires