0 Acres
By Glenn Bach
From Atlas
0 acres
The fuel the wind the spark of a fire
with everything at the heart of it five
hundred acres at Cogswell morning
in heavy fuels we were sounding
hours old what you need to know
were underway the data is always
to clear vegetation around a brush fire
that burned where lows never fell
structures were threatened for this
region water tenders and a large plume
confirm this warm layer efforts
of smoke this is not an evacuation
map all parameters are in place
when the elements are present
1,000 acres, 0%
in a northerly direction if conditions
ash on the car this morning from the
valley fire now orange skies and smoke
clouds above the ridge change yipes!
we saw smoke from Yucaipa in our
valley too smoky and windy to ride
holding the line in heavy brush very
visible coastal sage scrub overcast all
day mellowed it out maybe and the Santa
Anas delayed but could still drive
it south
4,800 acres, 0%
chaparral now flames on the hillside
that the fire breaches the city (me as an
expert in fire science) the marine layer
arrived additional dozer lines around
the flowering times
Glenn Bach is a sound artist and poet who lives and works in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains. His major project, Atlas, is a long poem that documents his reflections on place and our (mis)understanding of the world. Excerpts have appeared in DIAGRAM, jubilat, Otoliths and others. He documents his work at glennbach.com and @AtlasCorpus.