Aftermath

Fireweed spears

flesh pink as toddler cheeks

Scattershot steeples 

amidst blackened blisters

of bark and bones

where pitchforks of hellfire

tongued trees

licked limbs

gorged on wild hearts and sleeping souls

ravaging millenia of life

slash and burn of nurture

Fireweed spears

cradle pink 

flames  of fragile hope

Soullessness

This faithless god 

kneeling in cloisters

stained with butterfly dust

and crusted tear tracks

keens

unheard and unmourned 

except 

in abattoirs of mangled hope 

and fertile fear.

when god’s tears burn dry  who will cry for us?

Library Storytime in a Retired Train Station

train whistle dopplering onomatopoeia of wanderlust coming to rouse hoot and whoop of toddler joy engines, hoppers, tank cars too rocking rollicking eating the tracks causing a rumble and tumble of tiny limbs lungs chug-chugging hearts a-clickety-clacking feet twitch-twitching as dreaming eyes ride the rails reaching lands far far far away once again picture book storytime has left the station