Poem about the fire and for the fire

and then there was light
a hungry glow
eating up more
than just a building
but the collective memory
of this town
for each place is host to so much
each place is more than
just walls and wood and windows
each place is all that
it has ever been and more
what was burned contains
where I first went to pre school
where I got my first crooked tattoo
where my parents
used to go to the gym
and met most of their friends
where I had one
of my first legal beers
bought after a long day’s work
on a mountain house chimney
where the first thrift store
I ever went to was
and where I bought
my first Carhartt coat
where my first friend Max
had a blown glass art shop
where Doug had so many
instruments waiting
for the right hands
to pick them up
and bring music into the world
where I first learned
how to tell the age of a tree
by counting its rings
and the size
of a mountain lion paw
where my first love and I
would go and get pizza
in the middle of the day
skipping fourth period
and looking into each others eyes
thinking we would
be together forever
but forever is never true
so many firsts now gone at last
this and so much else
contained in these two stories
of timber and lit up signs
so many lives over the years
so many dreams
now spun up into the sky
and the fire is out
but this community still glows
and in time we will build
something new
and in time
fill it with memories again

Alexander Shalom Joseph is an award-winning poet, writer and playwright from Gilpin County, and is the author of seven published books. You can find his work and more information about him at www.alexandershalomjoseph.com.