The Bull
Irvine, CA
2024, Junior, Poetry & Spoken Word
A spark
No bigger than a rice grain
Hiding beneath a leaf,
Begging to make itself known.
Nearby crackling, increased heat
The fever intensifies, infecting
The surrounding leaves
The spark crackles with avidity
Its flame snaps across the foliage,
Disintegrating the leaves in its path of destruction.
The ground smolders a lustrous vermillion,
And emerging from the embers,
A bull
Crimson eyes filled with malice,
His menacing gaze fixed ahead, ready to strike.
He charges at full force, stampeding through the forest
Horns piercing the trees, taking them out two at a time.
With each step, the char gets deeper,
The thick, acrid smoke rises higher.
An oppressive inferno, searing Mother Nature in her own home,
Her gentle greenery no match for the blazing bull
In the blink of an eye,
Shelters are shredded to scraps,
The ground is reduced to singed earth.
The bull, as quickly as he began,
Left the wreckage in his wake,
Thinking nothing of the lives he destroyed.
As gray clouds accumulate,
Breathing extinguishes, all from just
A spark
Reflection
With “The Bull,” I wanted to capture how destructive and harmful wildfires are to our environment. As a California native, I understand that climate change has significantly increased the frequency and severity of wildfires. The extended metaphor of the bull is meant to illustrate the strength and speed of these disasters: as quickly as the bull begins his devastating stampede, he is done, much like how quickly a wildfire can rip through an entire forest in what can seem like a matter of seconds. Although the poem emphasizes the catastrophic impact of wildfires, the greater message is that we are not powerless to these climate disasters; we must help our planet return to its former, much healthier state.