too many gone to count can you count what is gone
said the wind to the flame
said the man to the neighbour
who lost his son when everything turned orange
and even breath became tongues
deep throating them
spell out we will rise from the ashes at vigil
for ashes
are ashes and burnt things don’t rise just crumble
it was a camp fire said the start of the fire to the end
but they could not find an end to the fire kept burning
and californians hoped rain would come flatten
the flames in its wet spell be a weather witch a rain man
make a rain dance
saw it on a satellite map so much red
eating up green a quarter less rain
then some photographer found jesus in the ash
hotels booked for miles and kids still wearing same clothes
reach for smokeless clothes from someone else’s back in paradise
© Amy Louise Wyatt
Amy Louise Wyatt is a poet, lecturer and artist from Bangor, N.I. She has had work published in a range of literary journals and magazines such as The Honest Ulsterman, FourxFour, Dodging the Rain and Cold Coffee Stand. Amy has most recently read her poetry on The BBC Arts Show, at University of Ulster’s Riverside Readings and at festivals throughout Ireland . She is the editor of The Bangor Literary Journal and was shortlisted for the Seamus Heaney Award for New Writing 2018. amylouisewyatt.com
