Mailboxes Versus Firestorms
By Linda Eskin
After the flames are out,
You can go back and see.
Let yourself breathe again.
There’s no hurry now.
Your home may be standing
Or you may be standing in ashes.
Either way, it’s over.
If your home is gone,
If your neighborhood is gone,
If your mailbox is gone,
You have a job to do.
Go get a new mailbox,
And a sack of posthole cement.
Install it by the road,
Where your flowers were.
Do this first.
You’ll need your mail.
So much mail.
Insurance papers, government papers,
Official papers, important papers.
No mailbox, no mail delivery.
So put up a mailbox.
This is your stake in the ground.
I exist.
This is my place.
I will go on.
If you are able,
Get an extra one.
Put it up, too,
for your neighbor.
I’ve started a new weekly habit – Fridays are for writing. I was going to jot down a few notes tonight, to be ready to dive into my planned work for the morning: sharing my experience of what to expect in the weeks and months following a firestorm. Advice for my friends and others affected by the North Bay fires in Northern California. Instead, this tumbled out. It’s serious advice, actually, based on the experiences of many friends after the Cedar Fire in 2003. Please feel free to share.
