fire poem

my second year on a

wildland firefighter hotshot crew

out of our six month season

we spent a total of 11 days off

back home in northern California

the rest of the time we

mostly

worked 12 to 14+ hour days

spent nights sleeping outside

usually without a tent

by august

dispatched to eastern Oregon—

big fire that had been

called out

but re-ignited

taken off again

after we helped contained it

again

we + a bunch of other crews

were kept to mop up

hold the line

tho by then it was mostly all ash

burning stump holes

other crews

spent days hiding in the trees

‘shading up’

but we worked

took pride in the nightly infrared map

showing a bigger + bigger

cold bump

along our part of the fire line

tired every night

covered in ash + dirt

still with six to eight weeks to go

down in California

that fire never went out

until snow came

tho those other crews

got paid the same

the fire burned what it was going to burn

naturally

at some point

the safety officer overheard

one of us say how we hadn't had

a full day off in a month—

all the hotshot crews

were demobed

made to take two nights

of mandatory r+r

at the nearest town

which was La Grande

a college town

so most of our crew

spent those 48 hours drunk

and when we drove home

our supe made us

take another two days off

as punishment

then we left the next morning

5 am

for Big Sur

Born in Puerto Rico, John Yohe has worked as a wildland firefighter, wilderness ranger and fire lookout. Best of the Net nominee x2. Notable Essay List for Best American Essays 2021, 2022 and 2023. @thejohnyohe www.johnyohe.weebly.com