Fire season
Skeletal branches
Are what’s left of the Fire tree’s
Red-orange frenzy,
But it all comes back next year,
Fiery like we used to be.
Are there Fire trees in America? I wonder. They must be in bloom this time of year in the Philippines. I’ve loved them ever since my mother pointed them out to me. I was still a teenager then. We were driving over to my grandparents’ bakery. When we passed by the town plaza she murmured, “Katahum!” (Beautiful). There was something in her voice that rang a bell with me. Everytime I see a fire tree I’d remember that quality in her voice and it would fill me up too. The sight of it is truly arresting. In full bloom, its leaves are all gone. The dark-brown, almost black, branches provide a stark contrast to the red-orange flowers, all jostling against each other like a multitude of gaudy birds during mating season.
