I wonder … when its sulky breath
shrouds their valley vineyards,
shall we taste it in our Cabernet,
and will its wind storm char
translate to their Sauvignon
before cavalry Pacific mist
is temperance enough.
Insensitive of me … I know Napa Valley,
know the genuine of people there,
and taught Shakespeare to their children,
to some now staying with the land
to grow their family and their grapes.
And I wonder …
in the midst of conflagration
how The Tempest fancy
helps them to face the present.
How crass of me to think it might,
now as fire breathes across their land
melting trampolines and bikes and trucks
and wide porched reality.
Bonnie Marshall
Published in August, 2015
Movie Scene: A Walk in the Clouds
Proem... 
Yes…four years of drought dry manzanita and grassland create fire storms. It’s beautiful Audubon country.
Fire makes devastation very personal for some. Many will taste embers and ash in their wine.
I understand from the local papers (I live in Napa.) that the grape crop is fine. The dark reds have thicker skins and are the last to be picked, so they had a dusting of ash. You wouldn’t believe the devastation, Sharon, especially in Santa Rosa. Awful!
r
Weed whack the entire state end of Spring 2018
Yes! I drove through Santa Rosa recently and what’s left of houses is a chimney and one or two burned out cars … some twisted metal, and people sorting through rubble. I am living in a scorched state. Thank you for your wise comment.