Sarah Kay performs "Forest Fires"

I have discovered this pattern in my life recently which is sort of bizarre I've had a number of near misses of pretty substantial tragedies or disasters and I consider myself very lucky and very blessed but also it's created this bizarre reoccurrence where I have to learn how to heal from something I didn't actually witness I arrived home from JFK in the Rosi hours to find a brand-new five-in-one egg slicer and Dicer on my dining room table this is how my father deals with grief three days ago I was in the Santa Cruz redwoods tracing a mountain road in the back of a pickup truck watching clouds unravel into spiderwebs two days from now there will be forest fires so thick they will have to evacuate that part of Santa Cruz the flames will paint the nightly news a different shade of orange and when it happens I will already be in New York City watching something else on TV commercials probably which is all that seems to play on Hospital television sets the beeping from nurses stations mixing with sales jingles to create the theme song of the ailing my grandmother's body is a sinking ship on white sheets I hold her hand and try to remember open highway it just goes to show in dry conditions such as these it doesn't take much to start a fire a cAL FIRE spokesman will tell CNN on Saturday fire officials have been working tirelessly but controlling something this big is impossible my mother will point at the celluloid flames remind me how close I was how lucky I am how narrowly I missed this disaster my father will point out a commercial for the brown and crisp repeat line-by-line how it bakes broiled steamed fries and barbecues you will write down the phone number so we can remember to order it later three days ago I was barefoot balancing on train tracks the full moon an unexpected visitor the clean air as crisp and sharp as these City lungs could stand two days from now I will my father making egg salad in the kitchen exhausted after another all-night shift at the hospital I will ask him if he needs help and understand when he says no I will leave him to slice and dice the things he can my grandmother holds my hands and strokes my knuckles like they are a wild animal she is trying to tame she tells me I am gorgeous watches a commercial forgets my name tells me I am gorgeous again my father watches from the bedside table his mother and daughter strung together by tightrope hands fingers that look like his own and somewhere in California a place I once stood is burning you

Channel: speakeasynyc

Views: 360,528

Keywords: Sarah, Kay, Bowery, Poetry, Club, Urbana, Spoken, Word, Taylor, Mali

Id: mlter5esJ88

Length: 3min 34sec (214 seconds)

Published: Mon Nov 22 2010