Yellow Monsters

• Sophie Morris, Grade 8
• Poetry
• 2022

I wake to terrified screams, the screams of my friends,
As I spring from my slumber,
I am instantly caught up in the raging torrent of panic,
I dash through the woods, clutching my child close to me.
Terror sets in my eyes traveling through my body like lightning.
I frantically look behind me and see the chaos has already begun.
All of us scatter as trees crack, snap, and finally fall,
Crushing anything that is unfortunate enough to lay beneath.
The sickly-sweet smell of pines,
The black smoke that rises from those great yellow monsters;
It mixes, creating a potion of disaster, disrepair and destruction,
Sharp claws pinch my chest as my child clings tight.
I slow to a stop, my home a sea of bleeding trees and churned up earth.
Heart pounding, chest heaving, tears of defeat springing in my eyes,
The monster we said would never win has won;
We are homeless.