Late Spring in Jasper County
Smoke from wild fires advances south across states lines.
The flags in town at half mast, though nobody can tell you why.

Afternoon, traffic slows, cars disappearing into drifting clouds,
and my thoughts rush out for the new grass, the new days,

just as, around the perimeter of a blackening square of prairie,
the burn team, in canary yellow, drips light from torches:

a small flame gets on its feet and sprints up the hill—
some forms of love will sing through you this way, this way. 
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