Wind from the desert.
Trees bend in one direction

With sagebrush gusts.
They point to the ocean,

A dull blue with hollow waves.
Brush fire in Ventura

Expands to 20,000 acres.
Chainsaws gnaw suspect branches.

Smoke pretends to be clouds.
Stench of possessions burning.

Twilight wind howls—
Coyotes circling before the kill.

Kirby Michael Wright was born and raised in Hawaii. He lives beside the track in San Diego with his wife Darcy and a cat named Gatsby.