"After the California Wildfire" (2018)
My home fills with dust, un-
Imagined dead, drifting motes,
Ashes on wind, detritus
Of living flame, shadowed essence
Of those once loved, now,
Not lost: Silt settling
Between floorboards, caught
In carpets and curtains, glimpsed
Fleetingly when a chance ray
Of light catches ghosts slipping
Into my lungs, sudden tightness
In my throat, voices seeking
Words that cannot be spoken,
Dry cough, aching paroxysm
As though the dead would
Rise again on my breath,
The inspiration of my life
Giving form once more
To all that was---
Or might have been.
Stifler, Bill. "After the California Wildfire." Necro Magazine, 2020.