Prelude to Disaster

by

Mark M. Lichterman

Verse One

September, October and November

Reservoir water levels down

drought conditions apply

Southern California water rationing enforced.

 October promising a bit of rain

but no

not till mid-November

then…

 Rain!

 Seven months without

within days of the season’s first rain

brown burnt-out shrubs and wild grass

magically, once again turn green and

the seasonal process begins anew

 Rain…

and more rain

 The worse the weather

the better the weather…

to a point

 Overflowing water flooding denuded

previous burn areas as rivers of sludge

inundate mountainside and wooded

localities destroying home after home

 Walls of mud closing canyon roads

as loosened earth allows bounding

boulders onto Pacific Coast Highway.

  Verse Two

 December, January and February

Breathtakingly beautiful in their distance:

snow-capped mountains peak into and disappear

within pure white clouds back-dropped by

startling blue skies.

 California poppies abundant

hills and prairies dotted with red, pink and blue flowers

Daily sunshine along with intermittent rain resurrecting

dry prairie grass and sun-browned shrubs effectuating

mile upon mile of flower dotted green umbrage

 Occasionally seen on the velvety green hillside

herds of grazing cattle, horses or sheep

 Lake Tahoe to the north

Yosemite Park mid-state

Big Bear to the south

whereupon lowering snow lines

opening mountain resorts

to a constant stream of vehicles 

bearing skies and snowboards

Verse Three

March and April 

From the high Sierras flow twenty to thirty

feet of melting snow

runoff filling reservoirs

allowing sluice gates to open permitting

capricious amounts of water to flow

imperceptibly downhill from north to south

within the hundreds of miles of California’s

snaking, southbound aqueduct system

 Wild growth upon mountains, hills and prairies

now distantly showing as mottled green foliage

 Verse Four

   May, June and July

California beauty

Prelude to disaster

Last notable rain in early March

 Reservoir water levels down

forthcoming drought conditions apparent

Southern California rationing suggested.

 Moisture now a nonexistent memory as drought stricken

sun-browned scrub grass and dead shrubs cover mountains

hillsides and prairies

Verse Five

  August, September and October

California beauty

Prelude to disaster

Ignited by:

a cigarette flipped from a speeding car

a blowing ember from an illicit campfire

a spark from the hoof of a horse

a striking bolt of lightning…

or purposely set.

 In wild abundance

sun-browned scrub grass and dead shrubs

Ignite…

and quickly

Running with the wind

within seconds:

Running with the wind

pine trees igniting explosively

highly combustible scrub grass and dead shrubs

become a conflagration consuming all within its path

 Ten, twenty, thirty miles distant

appearing as a wide red glow on the far distant horizon

day becomes night.

 As a hurricane of fire…

As Cyclonic Fire:

Running with the wind

out of the hillside

ripping through evacAuated residential neighborhoods

tall palm trees igniting as Roman Candles on the Fourth of July

homes burnt to the ground

naught but standing chimneys remain

 Ten, Twenty, thirty miles distant

night becoming day

black smoke appears as storm clouds on the far distant horizon as

carried in the air

specks of gray ash fall upon all within the wind’s path.

Verse Six

December, January and February

California poppies abundant

hills and prairies dotted with red, pink and blue flowers

Daily sunshine along with intermittent rain resurrecting

dry prairie grass and sun-browned shrubs effectuating

mile upon mile of flower dotted green umbrage

  California beauty 

Prelude to disaster

 ©May 1, 2012 / Mark M. Lichterman