Pandora's Collective Poetry Contest (2017)
2nd Place Winner - Teen Category
Inferno
It’s a cloud, a gust of wind, a wave of heat,
Grass dry and brittle under our feet.
It’s a flash, a roar of thunder, a crash,
Light ricochets through the sky in a giant flash.
The thunder sounds like a bear’s growl,
The thunder sounds like a wolf’s howl.
A spark,
A blaze,
Lights the dark,
Through the haze.
With a crackle and pop the grass is aflame,
It withers and falls, the whole land looks the same.
Like a burning inferno of grass and sage,
The fire plows on in a furious rage.
Destroying,
Ruining,
Ravaging,
Damaging.
Grass falls mercy to the flames,
Fire and smoke cover the plains.
It spreads far across the prairie,
Flames towering, tall and scary.
The houses are like firewood,
The ground is charred where homes once stood.
Fence posts, barns, every garden and tree,
Fall mercy to the flames, burning wild and free.
A torrent of flames,
Sweeps the wide grassy planes.
When will it end?
When will it rain?
The rabbits and deer weave through the sheets
Of fire, while the coyotes howl, the hawks shriek.
They look for a safe place, but none is to be found.
The wind blows the smoke, while flames lick the ground.
Now above the smoky haze,
Above the towering wildfire’s blaze,
The clouds roll in, stormy and black,
The sun is covered; the blue sky is pushed back.
Rain falls from the sky, the fire hisses and pops,
Smoke fills the air, the fire will stop!
It rains, and it rains, and it rains some more,
Extinguishing the fire on the prairie floor.
Smoke fills the air, but no flames to be seen,
The grass is all brown, no more vibrant green.
When the sky clears, the sun burns down,
Onto the burnt, charred, smoky ground.
Everything’s different, nothing’s the same,
Change has fallen over the plains.
- Luka Heinrich
-
It’s a cloud, a gust of wind, a wave of heat,
Grass dry and brittle under our feet.
It’s a flash, a roar of thunder, a crash,
Light ricochets through the sky in a giant flash.
The thunder sounds like a bear’s growl,
The thunder sounds like a wolf’s howl.
A spark,
A blaze,
Lights the dark,
Through the haze.
With a crackle and pop the grass is aflame,
It withers and falls, the whole land looks the same.
Like a burning inferno of grass and sage,
The fire plows on in a furious rage.
Destroying,
Ruining,
Ravaging,
Damaging.
Grass falls mercy to the flames,
Fire and smoke cover the plains.
It spreads far across the prairie,
Flames towering, tall and scary.
The houses are like firewood,
The ground is charred where homes once stood.
Fence posts, barns, every garden and tree,
Fall mercy to the flames, burning wild and free.
A torrent of flames,
Sweeps the wide grassy planes.
When will it end?
When will it rain?
The rabbits and deer weave through the sheets
Of fire, while the coyotes howl, the hawks shriek.
They look for a safe place, but none is to be found.
The wind blows the smoke, while flames lick the ground.
Now above the smoky haze,
Above the towering wildfire’s blaze,
The clouds roll in, stormy and black,
The sun is covered; the blue sky is pushed back.
Rain falls from the sky, the fire hisses and pops,
Smoke fills the air, the fire will stop!
It rains, and it rains, and it rains some more,
Extinguishing the fire on the prairie floor.
Smoke fills the air, but no flames to be seen,
The grass is all brown, no more vibrant green.
When the sky clears, the sun burns down,
Onto the burnt, charred, smoky ground.
Everything’s different, nothing’s the same,
Change has fallen over the plains.
- Luka Heinrich
-
