Funeral Pyres

A Poem by Will Falk

Photo by Wes Hicks on Unsplash

The land is a broken body
ignored like every other body
on the nightly news. 

Unseasonable warmth 
rips the snow that clothes her
to dirty yellow shreds
leaving her soil-brown skin
raw, exposed, and rotting
in plain sight, but way out of mind. 

No one notices the tiny signs of life 
sprouting from her battered wounds
or listens to the lifeblood trickling
with whispers from her melting womb. 

Forests burn themselves to death
in the only act of protest they have left.
But they are much too far 
to be seen or heard
from any capitol building steps. 

Everyone is too busy celebrating 
warmth and the return of spring
while building the funeral pyres
higher and higher, wildfire by wildfire. 

---

Will Falk is a biophilic activist, author, and attorney. The natural world speaks and poetry is how Will listens. His law practice is devoted to helping Native American communities protect their sacred sites and cultural resources. He is the author of How Dams Fall and When I Set the Sweetgrass Down.. You can follow his work at willfalk.org.