It's Difficult to say, Smoked in

IT'S DIFFICULT TO SAY, SMOKED IN

 

At Yakima airport behind chain

linked fence, tarmac close

waiting for Deportation Flight,

the mind wants to call this conflagration

fog. I write fog in the notebook

crossing out the word.

Smoke obscures the airport.

I'm masked up.

My glasses fog.

Everything is either fog or smoke.

There's a new fire on White Pass.

My mountain.

I stand outside the tarmac.

I've brought a psalter

and read Psalm 5,

translated by Eugene Peterson,

Every morning you'll hear me at it again.

This is the 80th ICE flight

out of Yakima since 20 May 2019.

God must have picked this psalm for me

and smiled where I ask him to pay attention.

 

Jim Bodeen

15 September 2020