Triptych with Love Story and Fire Season
by Jordan Ranft
It was finally time for you to come home
when Summer stuck its dry tongue into
October and fire charged us down the hill
facing your mom’s house. This wasn’t
your first evacuation, but it was mine.
We buy respirators and Mylar blankets,
dole them into plastic tubs with yellow lids.
Emergency rations and utility knives. Go
-bags perched near the Monstera you water
every other morning.
I lived in Oakland when fire jumped
the 101 and burned five thousand
houses to the studs. The next day,
I was going to drive North with
supplies, but someone broke
the driver-side window of my car.
I spent the day googling smoke
inhalation at the auto shop.
Flipped the breakers. Grabbed your grandpa’s
cowboy painting. In the distance, car horns
and smoke. You said our best bet was the backroad
that snaked along the black ribs of the lake.
You snuck past the evac line
to spray the roof with a garden hose.
It was the first time
you ever thought about buying a gun.
We are thinking about buying a gun.
Your hands are too small to pull the slide
back on a Glock. A revolver would be better.
During that first fire, we were dating
other people. She hated me, I hated
her but we hadn’t told each other yet.
We got your mom, grandma, and dog
into the car and drove to your friends’ house
on the hospital grid.
I heard a story about an old couple
who spent 12 hours in their pool as
their home burned down. They kept
each other company by telling the
story of how they met.
Before that, we were fucking in
your hotel room. You told me not
to say anything that might jinx this
and I didn’t say anything at all and yet…
You trim the lawn. I make the coffee.
This week promises temperatures in
the 90s. The hills are full of dead grass.
About the author:
Jordan Ranft lives in Northern California, where he works as a therapist. He writes poetry and non-fiction. His poems have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net and published in Boulevard, Passages North, Frontier Poetry, and elsewhere. He writes about DIY art and punk scenes for his local paper. He is the author of the chapbook “Said the Worms” (Wrong Publishing) and has another one forthcoming called “We’ve Been Trying to Reach You” (Game Over Books).