The Grind

 

The 101 North stretches out from the Grind

Like a snake through Hollywood hills till a sign

Bids me exit to a town on the left hand side

With a suitcase and Jeep Wrangler 4-wheel-drive

 

20 years old, far from home, want to cry

I know what I'm doing here, just don't know why

A Fireman told me to give this a try

So I lace up my Firefighting Boots with a sigh

 

The Wildland Grind stretched like ocean swells

Far from heaven and too close to hell

And Fire Sirens rang like Notre Dame bells

As my first Wildfire bid my old self farewell

 

And with pick axe in hand and my gear on my back

The Grind egged me on till I thought I would crack

Then I saw the mountainside covered in black

And the Devil Himself ripping through our attack

 

Flames reached up to the ashen-choked sky

And phoenixes danced before my rookie eyes

While the water-drop fell on our heads like a tide

And we chased spot fires through the night on a high

 

Demons we battled and dragons we slayed

And jumped behind hoses as lightning was sprayed

Angels wore yellow with hardhats and spades

And slept beneath stars on the charred wild glade

 

When the battle was over, we stood tall with pride

Brothers and sisters in arms side by side

We're tired and dirty but feel alive

And we'll never forget the war on the Grind

 

The rain covers tears as I say goodbye

Burning down the 101 like a firefly

Adventure calls me home like the broken yellow lines

I know who I am now, now I know why.

Reviews

[Touché Armada]

Eh bash it, I would but really what purpose does that serve?
Despite the pretty face and the female composure I am a firefighter in Victoria Australia, and our last big fires in the north east had us away for days at a time most of the time with strangers in strike teams, though they are always like family its quite strange how everyone just clicks in the new friendships like we have all known each other forever, I think its common cause. That fire burned for more than a month I think it was 50 to 60 days off hand, they were sparked by lightning,, it was a crazy time and the biggest fire I will ever have to go to, our biggest ever in this country, over a millon hectares across two states. 15,000 people fighting the fire, including volunteer fire fighters from New Zealand, Canada, and the US helped us out. Any how it was huge, affected many people and unfortunatly is a way of life in this country, the dryer it gets the worse it gets, but we keep beeing told it has nothing to do with anything other than natural cause,,,,, I hope they are right.

[William Usry]

Great write...I thoroughly enjoyed this. Great personal feel on an uncommon subject. Major kudos for this.

[Wildecat]

I have lots of respect for fire fighters, this is an amazing write. Well done.

[Courtney26]

Woooooooooow!

[Rogue Daffodil]

This is amazing. What a carefully crafted portrayal of the first blaze of of rookie firefighter. My husband just joined the volunteer fire department of our town, and I must say, though the circumstances were drastically different, his first fire drudged up many of the sentiments you convey in this piece. So, I have to ask. Are you a firefighter? Any way you cut it, you are a very talented writer. Again, great work.

[Cylis Derrens]

Reminds me of the stories my teachers among the fire explorers use to tell me as a young man. I use to imagine the fire as a living breathing thing, with a will and a mind of its own. None of us looked forward to the idea of fire shelters, and the feeling of being cooked like a baked potatoe even if we set it up right as the fire passed over us. It can change so suddenly they would tell us and your own other choice is to outrun it and it can be far too fast. That's the danger with fire: nothing is really fireproof, just fire-resistant.

[Lola Nation]

I've read this poem and liked it a lot. please feel free to read it on the wtf radio show

Sundays 3pm cst 646-716-8752

[Oz]

I'd say this is defintily a $100 poem. The rhyme scheme...the flow...the unmistakable personal feel to it...it's all so very wonderful.

I can tell you wrote this poem with creative passion and I'm sorry to hear the contest didn't work out as well as you'd hoped. There is a story in this poem, told with an arrangement of metaphors and similes that fit the situation perfectly.

Thanks for being a firefighter. We need more heroes like you in this world.

-Oz

[Rain]

This was a good story about courage, and the trench mentality. The trench mentality was something they discovered in war. There is a deep bond that develops when men are cast together in a life and death situation. You should be proud. Great story. Rain..

[d]

I'm a sucker for good storytelling...and here you present a vivid tale set to stanzas that flow rather well in my opinion...this piece definitely held my interest and let me know who you are...Firefighting is a tough profession, and when you encounter an event like this it has to leave an indelible mark on the soul...Thanks for sharing:-)

[Jacob Ives]

I think Phil said everything that needs to be said about this as a poem. At times it felt honest and original, at other times it felt like the story's telling was crippled by the easy, sing-song rhyme. I'm really not a big fan of the rhyming ballad. It's a damn hard thing to do well. I mean, you pretty much have to write The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald Part 2 for anyone to stand up and take notice. Wait, did that song even rhyme? I'm not sure.

So... is that about the same fire as "Kyle"? I noticed a couple of phrases you used there repeated here, like calling the fire "The Devil Himself." Like a theme, Like a recurring metaphor or something. I really liked that. I also love like, when someone writes a poem of short story or screenplay or whatever and then does it again in a different form. Multimedia. They did that with Lain. Didn't really catch on, and the game version was only in Japanese. Bunch. of. Crap.

Ok, um well, as far as bashing, I don't know, is this contest supposed to have all-rhymeyness? Cause, like, it totally detracts from the poem. It's all like "la-de-dah, put out the fire, yay!"

Ok I'm done.