TRAPPED! (visual poetry)

Wow ... this captures my feelings watching the videos ...

Thank you, sweetheart.  My family & I have been living through these fires, due to years of drought and climate change, for years. This time it's come very close.

Oh ... prayers your way ... stay safe ...

Thank you so much.  
 
Btw, those white streaks you see heading for the windshield are sparks from the fire just out of view in the photo. It's those sparks that can be carried by the winds for miles, setting off more tinder-dry vegetation.

Powerful Jade! Unbelievable watching on TV.

Thank you so much, Rob.

And always unbelievable when having to actually face down the reality as the winds whip up the firestorms.

I'm speechless, Jade. The fact that the lives of you and your family are actually at risk makes the poem even more impactful on our psych. Stay safe, Jade. I'll pray for you and your family.

I’ve been attempting to get back to you, and I thought I had gotten a decent amount of sleep. It was perhaps a mere handful of hours, waking at 5am. And I keep nodding off as I try to tap out a message on my iPhone. But for now, it’s your words I want to reconnect with, so I perservior.

(will continue with my reply shortly...)

Well, shortly turned into deep in the night. A night where wind gusts could be heard outside my door, and I thought of those with no doors.  

Dearest Luna, I think I’ve been exhibiting signs of complete exhaustion, making it hard to do much of anything, especially during these hours when I should be resting, but how can I? I have words about all of this that I’m driven to the brink of writing.

I’d better stop here. I hope you’ll understand. I still have other comments to respond to... I hope they’ll understand, too.

You’re in my thoughts.
🌜🔥 🐅

Love the play on words in "hell I'm trapped"..wishing the best for you and your community

Thank you, Tim, for stopping by with your thoughts.

Mesmerizing, Sweet Jadey!
Please be safe.

Matthew.

Thank you, Matthew, that’s very thoughtful of you. And you’re in mine.

As you're in mine. You're a wonderful person, and I think I speak for everyone when I say please take care of yourself. Love you.
Matthew.

Thank you, Matthew. I promise to do what I can, as I trust you will also.

Jade x

Powerfully put - evoking last year's drama here. The fires in California look even worse - where hundreds of houses burnt in our zone. Take care. Josh.

Thank you, Josh, for your thoughts & concern.

It’s surreal with its death grip no matter where it happens on earth. And then, if we start receiving rain about a week from tomorrow as forecasted, we must brace for the floods that always follow, finishing off what the wildfires left behind. Yet rain we must have.

My thoughts are with you.

I hope you're safe, Jade.  This is a deadly trauma, one you describe with brilliance.  I hope the fire keeps its distance from you!

Thank you for your concern, my dear friend. I know you’ve been trying to reach me but I had so much happening outside of DU on top of trying not to succumb to exhaustion - a battle I kept losing as each smoke-filled day dragged on.

Meantime, I hope we’ll have a chance to chat tomorrow sometime. I left you a voice message. Give my love to Ninja.  

Jadey x

I have friends that lost a home to fire last year, and friends who lost a home to fire this year (I'm also in California). It is so sad what is happening. This is a timely poem indeed.

I wish it was a poem about the end of our 7-year drought. Humidity was down so low I heard local forecasters use the term ‘bone dry’ because we’ve been in single digits. Maybe things will begin to take a turn by Thanksgiving next week. That’s been the word so far.

Those Cali fires burn like Kali each season...often wondering if set by hellish thoughts....

Splendid piece dearest Jade
Jeff

Thank you, dear Jeff, I very much appreciate you stopping in with your thoughts. They reminded me of how we here in Cali used to be able to anticipate seasons as accurately as a finely tuned Swiss watch. But no more.  

Being in the 7th year of a drought doesn’t help matters, nor ever advancing climate change. Hellish thoughts, as you say, enter the picture in many harmful ways. Drough & climate change still head up a formidable list.  

I’m honored you have come here with insight.

And it seems intentionally set ... sometimes...a hellish mindset...I always feel bad as so much is lost ...not always to just lightning strikes.. please take care of yourself and your loved ones

Love
Jeff

Awesome! Love the photo... a satisfying cringe. This is fire in one of it's scariest manifestations.

When we picked our place to raise kids geographically speaking, the one thing we couldn't avoid was forest fires. This year was clear skies, others not so much.

Bless you in your fire trapped state. May rain soon release the concern from your mind.

Ahh thank you, sweetheart, for such a wonderful comment. It’s nice to find myself smiling for reasons like this. The days have been so stressful, as I’m sure you can imagine. But it’s so nice to hear from you, please know this, and you’ve brought up something I’ve just heard about on local news half an hour ago:  
 
Not only are weather forecasters saying potential rain showers are possible by Thanksgiving next week. They also showed a live shot of the top portion of the Empire State Bldg in NYC with it lit up in layers of our state’s colors of blue & gold (yellow) to honor the fire-fighters who have been tackling all the wildfires up & down California. And something else unexpected but just in time to help bolster spirits around here: Trump has done a complete 180 from last Saturday, acknowledging the state’s state of emergency, approving federal aide to be available quickly... to stop kicking us while so severely down on our knees, with dozens now dead (currently stands at 42), and an unknown number of others missing.  
   
Thank you for the honor of your words & the RL.

this is scaring me Jade...

has my hearts pounding,p lease tell me that youre
not in the midst of the ongoing devastation?

I’ve missed you, what can I say.    
    
Right now, the bone-dry winds are restless but will return with a vengeance come dawn. So things in the area are more calm for now because the temps at night lately, are dipping so much that I’ve been caught by surprise,  I bundle up from the cold till I call to have the gas company restart my wall heater. And I have gotten very little sleep or enough to eat. So I try to throw myself into writing, but the brain is exhausted more than usual.    
  
I don’t mean to blather on like this. Suffice to say what I’ve been feeling for months...    
   
that I miss you. Thank you for this.

How strong the emotion runs in this brilliant little poem, how it tears, how it pulls you into its deadly heart.

Such a gift you have the depth of few words!

Brava!

geoff

Thank you so much, dearest Geoff. And you know all too well the power & stranglehold such wildfire holocausts have in their rapid, random sweeps. I hope the air where you are is not so rancid now. And perhaps you will smell rain in its approach sooner rather than later.

But now I ramble... you know how it is.

jadey