Whispers of smoke trail across the sky, grey clouds

with black linings, the only disruption of blue skies this summer.

Children imagine shapes in them

as children in Africa have snowball fights with elephant dung.

An eagle - flying high in the sky, seeking out prey.

A hyena - laughing at the fallen.

A giant - do they know who Paul Bunyan is?

               here - where no tree grows, soil

               has long given way to choking the dust

               that assimilates everything, buries everything.

What happens to the land when the might giant falls?

What ripples created? What tears through the earth?

What shockwaves are felt? For how far?

For how long?