Drought

This a mutant season.
Clouds caucus and adjourn.
The sky’s autistic.
The sun just stares.

Our trees desert
their leaves. Roots shrink
from one another.

Wind steals
the juices from our eyes.
Our land cracks open
with an unrequited love.

Lightning strikes
like murder in a city.
Burning spreads
like outrage underground.

These are not mists
on ancient scrolls.
Our mountains
are on fire.