The plan was to get up early and work on a poem for today in response to one of Audrey Gidman’s July prompts (#14 — about a fish, without naming the fish in the poem). My bluegill poem will have to wait. When I got up this morning the view above is what I saw. And the act of taking in that air, laden with the smoke of lost trees and lives and lands, made me unbearably sad. And so I wrote.
Jill has today’s Poetry Friday roundup at Jill Dailey.
A(nother) Year of Reading 
Powerful and sad poem for what’s happening, you’ve put it well, especially the last two lines and tying to loss of ancestral history. It’s very bad in Chicago too, thanks Mary Lee! ❤️🩹😷🦋
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As did I. My JUST-EARTH poetry took shape while the smoky reminders of what we caretakers of Earth must do and what reparations are required. I thoroughly appreciate your line, “We breathe a history lost.” It flies the magenta warning flag alert. or should…
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We were both pulled to what was happening to the outside! It’s good to not ignore what tugs at our hearts.
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Mary Lee, the photo is a reminder of what is happening on earth. Your poem echoes the sadness and the urgency to be civic-minded air regarding “the smoke of lost trees and lives and lands”.
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“There are no blues today. Only grey.” So sad. So true. I sit inside, trapped, feeling the itch in my throat. “We breathe a history lost.”
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MaryLee, so poignant and sad. We breathe a history lost…well said and so true. It seems that smoky, ill-colored sky, has affected so many living things. Thanks for putting this into a poem.
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I too felt overwhelmed by the yellow skies. So many environmental implications here.
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Excellent, Mary Lee. I am hoping that the grossness of the air here in the D.C. area will make politicians want to do something.
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Oof, we all breathe the lives ended. I am saddened by the wildfires.
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We breathe a history lost. Heartbreaking, but I’m so glad you put it in a poem. xo
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