Friday, July 29, 2022: Cynthia Linville's poems " Valley Fire" and "Fire Season"

 Valley Fire

(September 2016)

We are the last

to set foot in this house,

the last

to sleep in this bed,

to see these green trees.

After we shut this door

and turn this key,

all evaporates into

ash and stone,

into memory.

Originally published in Redshift 4 Anthology

By Arroyo Seco Press 2020

Fire Season

August, season of reversals,

blows the year’s ashes

on a hot wind

August lets the past slip in, 

shadows a bright day

with the pieces that are missing

August reminds you

of the price you to have to pay 

for just about everything

reminds you that love

can leave you 

unprotected

August lies to you

hides the heart of the fire

behind the smoke

© 2022 Cynthia Linville

Cynthia Linville has received three mini-grants from Poets & Writers and often performs her work in collaboration with musicians. Her poetry has appeared in many publications and several anthologies. Her two books of poems, The Lost Thing and Out of Reach, are available from Cold River Press. Linville served as Managing Editor of Convergence: an online journal of poetry and art from 2008-2018, and she has taught in the English Department at California State University, Sacramento since 2000. See more of her work at CynthiaLinville.com