{"id":4266,"date":"2024-04-05T14:34:31","date_gmt":"2024-04-05T18:34:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/spire\/?p=4266"},"modified":"2024-04-08T11:57:59","modified_gmt":"2024-04-08T15:57:59","slug":"lebouef","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/spire\/2024\/04\/05\/lebouef\/","title":{"rendered":"Forest Fire"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Finlee LeBouef<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

*comparing the effects of climate change on the writer’s home state, Colorado, to those of Maine<\/span><\/h6>\n

 <\/p>\n

It\u2019s October again<\/span><\/p>\n

 the whole world sighing into itself, breathing out sunset <\/span><\/p>\n

 orange red and yellow swaying aspens, dancing in clouds brought down to earth.<\/span><\/p>\n

 Fall doesn’t look like where I grew up.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It looks like long rolling plains fading from green to brown,<\/span><\/p>\n

 like a grass blanket skyline,<\/span><\/p>\n

 like snowmelt rivers changing <\/span><\/p>\n

 from white water rough to sleepy winter winding.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We don\u2019t get glowing trees or rolling morning fog,<\/span><\/p>\n

 or we didn\u2019t used to.<\/span><\/p>\n

We didn\u2019t when I was growing up.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/h3>\n

I went to my old home this summer  and couldn\u2019t see anything but green,<\/span><\/p>\n

 shining unnatural emerald trees and grass and flowers, like a cursed stolen treasure.<\/span><\/p>\n

The rain fell so heavy and constant every June day,<\/span><\/p>\n

 for two months after my dad\u2019s front yard was jumping with grasshoppers.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/h3>\n

My dad grew up back home too, deep in the mountains<\/span><\/p>\n

 where the rolling grass hills fade to rock and ice<\/span><\/p>\n

 where kids grow up with one leg short from living on a frozen rockslide.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/h3>\n

He said when he was a kid that it wasn\u2019t really summer until mid-May,<\/span><\/p>\n

 when the toads and lightning bugs would reappear from winter<\/span><\/p>\n

 and every night would bring a light show and a symphony.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/h3>\n

That there used to be winding ice melts and flaming autumn leaves<\/span><\/p>\n

 leading down from the hilltops dragging away the summer,<\/span><\/p>\n

 that the flood season spring and fire season fall I grew up with<\/span><\/p>\n

 wasn\u2019t even meant to be there anyway.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/h3>\n

I\u2019m half a world away now,<\/span><\/p>\n

 only some handprints in powdery snow<\/span><\/p>\n

 left to show of me<\/span><\/p>\n

 in that old home away from home.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/h3>\n

And when my dad calls me,<\/span><\/p>\n

 every other week, consistency like a church bell,<\/span><\/p>\n

 just to make sure I\u2019m okay,<\/span><\/p>\n

 asking if I need anything before the next hurricane hits,<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/h3>\n

I want to ask him<\/span><\/p>\n

 if the leaves are changing on the mountain slopes,<\/span><\/p>\n

 if the buffalo grass is turning brown,<\/span><\/p>\n

 if the white water rivers are starting to freeze.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/h3>\n

And I guess I don\u2019t have anything of my childhood anymore<\/span><\/p>\n

 cause he says there hasn\u2019t been a dry spell in two years,<\/span><\/p>\n

 and it hasn\u2019t got cold enough for the rivers to freeze in even longer,<\/span><\/p>\n

 and well, shouldn\u2019t I know that?<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/h3>\n

But all I can really think about is the first time I saw a real flash flood,<\/span><\/p>\n

 my sister\u2019s hand on my back,<\/span><\/p>\n

 pushing me forward down the sloping hills,<\/span><\/p>\n

 running from a gathering storm.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/h3>\n

I should have known those rolling clouds were gonna wash away more,<\/span><\/p>\n

 more than just the dust and leaves,<\/span><\/p>\n

 that something of the toad and lightning bug summer <\/span><\/p>\n

 was going too. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/h3>\n

Or maybe had been gone,<\/span><\/p>\n

 and whatever time I thought I had to look back<\/span><\/p>\n

 was disappearing behind me<\/span><\/p>\n

 like steam rising above a forest fire.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Finlee LeBouef *comparing the effects of climate change on the writer’s home state, Colorado, to those of Maine   It\u2019s October again  the whole world sighing into itself, breathing out sunset   orange red and yellow swaying aspens, dancing in clouds brought down to earth.  Fall doesn’t look like where I grew up.   It […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2245,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spire-2024-issue"],"yoast_head":"\nForest Fire - The Maine Journal of Conservation and Sustainability - 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