interconnecting anyplace
dimensional corridors
embrace
dual realities
compete
in cyberspace
over the fate
of the
human race
***
Corridors in Time
The Aftermath
slate gray skies
devil winds swirling
as dying embers
seek new life
ash blankets
smoldering landscapes
where neighborhoods
once stood
silent in the toxic air
mute testimony
to the terror
that had been there
scorched bodies
of humans and animals
litter the hellscape
no birds in the air
nothing left
but despair
**
Evacuating Your Home: What It Feels Like
The cities of Phoenix and Talent, next to Medford, have been burnt to the ground in the historic wildfires that raced through the Rogue Valley in southern Oregon.
When wildfires threatened my home, and my family, we had to flee from our southern Oregon community of Medford. At the same time a new reality dawned upon us; climate change was coming faster than anyone predicted.
It wasn’t that my wife and I didn’t believe in climate change. We just naively thought it was something our grandchildren had to face. The fact that the entire West Coast of America is now on fire has cast cold water on that theory.
There’s more signs across the planet that point to climate change, but we’re dealing with the worst air quality on the planet here in Medford, Oregon, and it’s got my undivided attention.
How we got here is no longer important. The dystopian future of famous fiction writers is reality. I look at the bruised orange sky from my backyard during the day and wonder if I’ll ever see blue skies again.
When my wife and I had to flee our home last week after a Level 3 warning of impending wildfires, it was a first in our forty-six years of marriage. As we raced to an evacuation center at the Jackson County Expo grounds, the fire followed us north in a shower of flaming sparks until we arrived safely at the designated sanctuary near Central Point.
We arrived with our five animals – three cats and two dogs – packed into our Nissan King cab pickup truck alongside family photo boxes, important papers, and food and water for us and the animals, and parked alongside 500 other vehicles containing refugees like ourselves. Most of us stayed in our vehicles because of the fear of COVID-19 inside the Red Cross refugee center.
My wife and I sat up all night. We couldn’t sleep. The thought that our house was burning, like hundreds of others, was a nightmare. When we found out that it was safe to come home we were relieved to find that our our house, and neighborhood, still stood.
I wish that I could properly recount my feelings. All I can say is that it’s a surreal feeling not knowing what happened to your home. You go for a ride on a roller coaster of fears that leave you weak and exhausted… until you find out that everything you owned was not destroyed by the fires engulfing the state you live in.
****
The Thinker
wrapped in thought
like a cocoon
ready to bloom
the thinker
ponders
Plato
in her cerebral womb
comfortably
consuming
knowledge
like candy
in a safe place
where wisdom
is the base
**
Legends and Lies
a slender arm
reached up
from the lake’s
dark waters
reaching for the sky
clutching
the legendary
sword
Excalibur
a gift for a king who would die
wielding it against enemies
who personify
evil in a mythical land
called Camelot
where
noble knights
court fair damsels
in a world
that never was
**
Under Fire
red and green tracers crisscrossing in the night sky
brass shell casings dropping on the moist forest floor
while soldiers on both sides die
for conflicting ideologies
from opposite societies
fleshy pawns
in global games of war
dead “patriots”
who faced the horror
of being
under fire
***
Islands in the Sky
the keeper of dreams
comes to imaginations
with lurid temptations
promising
islands in the sky
beauty
in the mind’s eye
a veritable Versailles
where ones mind can fly
to islands in the sky
where mythology
turns into folk etymology
and no one has to die
***
A Case For Mediocrity
fame, glory, and power motivate many
while others are content to be ordinary
the case for mediocrity
isn’t always easy to see
how living quietly
makes some happy
living without envy
and fame’s frenzy
can be
a friendly journey
without strife
the rest of your life
***
Memo to a Supreme Being
for the sake of humanity
bring us together in unity
we’re a troubled society
in desperate need of harmony
help us see
the absurdity
of denying diversity
so that we can live
together peacefully
***
Carp Diem
Towering Ambitions
Towering ambitions
like castles in the sky
are for dreamers
who aren’t afraid to fly
it takes a bold person
who isn’t afraid to die
to embrace ambition
to pursue a goal
and bring it to fruition
**
The Creative Chronicles of Dave Stancliff 