Elan Mudrow
Smidgens
The Forest Across The Road
We have looked at the embers
Found where the trail
Used to wind through
The forest , still warm.
You with that bright
Fever on your cheek
Me, dull, a copy
Of another fire you had
claimed as yours…. or
So you thought…,I know
Things are brightest
When burning…yet
There is a path flames take
When pavement bars it
From jumping across
A road to other trees.
One forest burnt, another preserved.
A relationship of nature and asphalt.
The burnt is reported to
A general public, in amounts.
Acres, ridges, houses, towns
As if the larger the area scorched
The bigger the desire.
I can remember one reporter
Asking me where the rain forest was
I motioned to everywhere
He asked me why I fought fire
I looked at you, still on the trail
Ash on your nose, smiling.
Coldness is measured in wind strength.
Inches of snow or rain.
I came across the road
To help you with the flames
Quelling the overall fear
With my calmness, while
Your inner heart searched
for a fire to overcome you
And when things were smoldering
I lost you…………., others
Found my charcoal shell,
Applied what they knew
To my appearance.
(Fire changes people)
I am now built of similes.
I am like the spring water
And cannot feel like a flame
The fire resembles you
All who look at me
Apply apocryphal images
Upon my cold, cold smile
They love the dystopian burning
Asking questions, only during
The catastrophe of transformed acres
Keeping distance from the spring
Which saves their lives.
A spring I cupped my hands in
Bringing it to our fire.
My desire is misconstrued
It was my mistake
Thinking we all could live together
Even though we already do
And always have.
I can remember the time
When we sat above
Valleys scraped of their trees
Waiting for the next blaze
Looking at a photograph taken
From space, the lights of cities
Were a ring of fire.
You were convinced the world
Was on fire, then as now.
You were kissing inflamed lips
Were they mine?
I have only the taste of spit
Rolling around a granule of ash
Between my tongue and teeth
Good enough for a memory.
I have always been a passionate
Wanderer of recovered trails
Through burnt timber
Even while I forever
Remain a water sign
Waving to you from
The forest across the road
30 Comments on “The Forest Across The Road”
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Elan Mudrow 
“….the larger the area scorched
The bigger the desire.” Indeed it is so…I related the most hence the best expression in the entire composition…my take of course…beautiful
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Thanks so much!
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Another profound poem. I really like the imagery in this one, especially in the lines- “I have always been a passionate Wanderer of recovered trails”
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Hey Elan,
I like “I have always been a passionate/Wanderer of recovered trails.”
Take good care,
Jenn
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Completely agree! These lines possess so much gravity! 3 Snaps and more love!
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lol. edited.
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Oops! “your”
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“Ash on your nose, smiling” This really makes it vivid for me. Nice work.
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Love this.
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Thanks so much!
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‘I am now built of similes.’ Wonderful!
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Another fine example of your consistent excellence!
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I especially like the part where you go over how its figures and statistics for some and a tiresome walk in ashes for others.
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Like a vision above the flames, translation shimmering, flickering in the heat waves.
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Reading the first time felt distantly familiar, while it enveloped me. Reading again, more relaxed, letting it flow freely this time:
“…They love the dystopian burning
Asking questions, only during
The catastrophe of transformed acres
Keeping distance from the spring
Which saves their lives.
A spring I cupped my hands in
Bringing it to our fire…”
The verse leaned in – reading this the very first time when you first posted it knocked the wind out of me for a moment. There’s more to that experience, but this is about your excellent work.
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Reblogged this on wwwpalfitness.
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I’m sorry to hear about the fires in Australia. It was a heavy fire season here in the northwestern part of the USA.
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In Prolog, often the ending lies. I savor the last lines of the opening stanza.
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“I lost you…………., others/Found my charcoal shell,/Applied what they knew/To my appearance./
(Fire changes people)“
Well, That’s a poem!
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Reblogged this on Slavomir Almajan's Blog.
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Took me a moment to get into it, then felt it in a movement of the heart and between beings. Fire has already taken lives in Australia this year, including some young people from Europe on working visas in agriculture in the west. Some places may get worse over summer. I shall make a FB link to this. Owen
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Intense 🙂
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The last verse is amazing. So wonderfully written
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Wonderful imagery…..Rich in symbolism, to be sure. 😉
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“It was my mistake
Thinking we all could live together
Even though we already do
And always have.”
This is masterful– especially these simple, yet extremely powerful, lines. Thanks for sharing.
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Yes, we are all changed by fire. I am waving back to you in that forest across the road. Great piece.
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Divine thought artfully expressed.
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Thanks Frank
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Absolutely wholeheartedly love this… Thank you.. Amazing..
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“Even while I forever remain a water sign waving to you from across the road”. Beautiful xx.
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