“The Camp Fire started on Thursday, November 8, 2018, in Northern California’s Butte County . . . an urban firestorm formed in the foothill town of Paradise.”

“Remembering the Camp Fire: The deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California’s history.” CAL         FIRE, State of California. fire.ca.gov.

Smoke sweeps down Oakland sidewalks

in the skin of a climate killer

ravaging lungs.

Inside Pete’s Coffee on Lakeshore,

a woman says to her friend,

“The smoke no longer carries

burnt bodies

from the people of Paradise.”

Around noon, the Camp Fire

moved on to the forest

that once hugged the town

now aflame on TV and phone screens.

“It’s better to breathe burnt trees

than burnt bodies, right?”

I flip on my face mask,

exit the cafe into a haze

past Grand Lake neighbors with only

their eyes in sight.

At home on Rand Avenue, I welcome indoor air

when the couple I rent from

stumbles in through the back door.

They take off their masks,

inhale the clean.

“Hey, do you wanna share a smoke?”

David asks. “Yeah. I just bought a pack,”

Beth answers with a smile.

In the doorway, she leans outside

to strike a match.