The fire season has grown longer
Just as earthquakes rumble
and rippled water stills
Just as blooms erupt into color
and gophers chew their tender roots
Just as buildings tower over cities
and our hearts become guarded
Just as stars explode into being
and the moon arrives in phases
I know this fire season has grown longer
Just as polluted air honeycombs lungs
and crickets create songs with their wings
Just as darkness blankets
and what was canopied opens
Just as flowers turn towards the sun
and rivers carry us all towards sea
—
Laurel Maxwell is a poet from Santa Cruz, CA whose work is inspired by life’s mundane and the natural world. Her work has appeared at baseballballard.com, coffecontrails, phren-z, Verse-Virtual, Tulip Tree Review, and Yellow Arrow Vignette. Her creative fiction was a finalist for Women on Writing Flash Fiction Contest. Her piece A Still Life was nominated for Best of the Net by Yellow Arrow Publishing. She has a chapbook forthcoming from Finishing Line Press in 2025. When not writing Laurel enjoys putting her feet in the sand, reading, traveling, and trying not to make too much of a mess baking in a too small kitchen. She works in education.
