TO A COSMOS FLOWER
I want you orange
like the Mexican Marigolds which honor the dead
and celebrate their lives during
Los Dias De Los Muertos
but I also want you yellow
as sunlight shining through your petals
like the life coming from our sun
I want
the sky from where the sunshine comes
blue
the clouds which float by
white
and your chest high stem with leaves
growing in pairs along it
green
and the ground from where you sprouted and grow
brown
I want
your roots sunk deep into dry and sunbaked soil
where you need to be watered
only once a week or when you start to wilt
and intertwined underground with those of your
nearby flowering family
I want you
to stretch to the firmament flexible enough
to bend with the wind
but strong enough
to return upright whenever it calms
I prefer you wild like your ancestors
who first grew in Mexico or mine
who became known as Homo Sapiens
in Africa
I want
you as balanced
as the Cosmos we live in
and which lives in us
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5 TANKA TAKES ON 2025 L.A. FIRES
1
Firestorms explode—
Palisades-Eaton Canyon
Flames jump house to house
Everything is on fire
There is no stopping it
2
Wind sends ash into eyes
Embers fly all around them
Grass catches on fire
The fire is coming closer
“We have to get out of here!”
3
Fires near Mt Wilson
Thousands of homes destroyed
Apocalyptic scene
Man died holding garden hose
“I think the death toll will rise”
4
Just chimneys standing
Neighborhoods wiped off the map
It’s a war zone
She’s staying with a friend
Says she may leave state
5
Buddha statue
and small desert plant saved
“That gives me hope.”
There is a grieving process
There is a healing process
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