The significant ash event
of the here and now carmelizes fate
in the afterlife...[Sage Sweetwater]

Pyroclastic Flow

ashfall paints
spectacular sunset
over the corral, loud
thunder eulogizes dead
horses grazing on ash covered
grass, lightning cracks its aim striking
the apocalypse commencement in a war
of volcanic corruption, magma ejaculates,
eruption you can't outrun,

damp holy cloth
wiping disgrace off
leaving a yellow mustard
sky turned hazy, western hat
cinched with chin strap, face mask
worn to filter the ashfall air double duty
covers shame, collapsing roofs, power
outages, lost communication, death of livestock
and vegetation, unusable roads, saddled but landlocked,

asthmatic karma
fosters the collapse,
over geologic time the
ashfall creates fertile soils,
the ecosystem bids again, tacks
up handbills for the horse auction,
Night of the Foal and the women who
love controversy running wet down the
flanks with the same shade.

Copyright Ms. Sage Sweetwater, firebrand lesbian novelist