Matthew J. Andrews
Another Failed Prophecy
“…a pyrocumulonimbus from the Loyalton wildfire is capable of producing a fire induced tornado…” – National Weather Service bulletin, August 15, 2020
It’s almost too much to believe:
that the sky – that black-mass congregation
of clouds, that crackling communion
of vapor and light; that thunderclap
ejector of the uncontainable, the yearning
rebellion that drops in forked tongues,
its path illuminated like a falling star’s,
it’s collision birthing spark and flame;
that dark courtyard pulsating with the fire
of judgment – would reach back down
and summon its outcast again, its wind fingers
plucking and lifting the exiled inferno
into the air, drawing it up in swirling dance,
until the gap has been bridged again – heaven
and earth reconciled with a Jacob’s ladder
set ablaze. And in the end, it is too much –
when the morning comes, it’s the same
as it ever was: a molten hot sun hiding
behind smoky skies, ash falling like manna.
“…a pyrocumulonimbus from the Loyalton wildfire is capable of producing a fire induced tornado…” – National Weather Service bulletin, August 15, 2020
It’s almost too much to believe:
that the sky – that black-mass congregation
of clouds, that crackling communion
of vapor and light; that thunderclap
ejector of the uncontainable, the yearning
rebellion that drops in forked tongues,
its path illuminated like a falling star’s,
it’s collision birthing spark and flame;
that dark courtyard pulsating with the fire
of judgment – would reach back down
and summon its outcast again, its wind fingers
plucking and lifting the exiled inferno
into the air, drawing it up in swirling dance,
until the gap has been bridged again – heaven
and earth reconciled with a Jacob’s ladder
set ablaze. And in the end, it is too much –
when the morning comes, it’s the same
as it ever was: a molten hot sun hiding
behind smoky skies, ash falling like manna.
Biography
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Matthew J. Andrews (he/him) is a private investigator and writer who lives in Modesto, California. His poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in Funicular Magazine, The Inflectionist Review, Red Rock Review, Sojourners, Amethyst Review, The Dewdrop, and Deep Wild Journal, among others. He can be contacted at matthewjandrews.com, or on Twitter at @2glassandrews.
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