I’m the fire that comes with forests.
I’m entitled to them –
floor, top, and everything in between.
Though I got no evolution,
I frequently thank it for keeping things limited,
for denying trees vertebrae, opposable thumbs,
carpi, things like that.
Imagine trees with left-and-right hands
that could douse me as I sprang on them.
I’d have been quite put out. Haha!
…Yes.

Thank you too, man,
for giving my birth a much-needed nudge
whenever lightning failed.
I understand the unthinkable: Pouf!
THAT.
What I don’t understand is people
who think they’ve grown roots, or worse,
who go looking for them as though they were shopping.

See what I’ll do to this rooted thing I’ve just occupied,
how I keep up the pressure,
exalt my right to its land as it burns.

You won’t hear it screaming but I will.
See what I do.
See what I do.