The Burn That Saved Our Landing, by Taylor Graham

The Burn That Saved Our Landing

Flash-back. The day we drove out Caldor Road

where we sometimes trained our search dogs.

Forest Service beat us there; you recognized

Barry’s rig. What was his crew up to?

Maybe your dog could find him --

up a little trail, green forest on the one side,

fresh char on the other; a control burn.

Dog tracked through drifts of smoke

to find Barry.

I almost forgot that little episode

from years ago – until I drove

back out that road, after the Caldor Fire cooled.

Black skeletons of trees.

Here, our landing – conifers scorched, but

still green in their upper reaches.

A stringer of manzanita, deer-brush,

ponderosa, oak, and incense cedar –

untouched. Fresh scat

of a forest creature. Raven calling

Nevermore from the top of a living evergreen.

-Taylor Graham