"Paradise Lost" does not refer to the epic poem by John Milton (okay it does), it refers mainly to the wildfire that destroyed the town of Paradise, California in 2018. I had vacationed there a few months prior. I was seriously shaken when I heard that the whole town had burnt to the ground. The places I'd been, the people I met. My favorite cowboy singer, Sourdough Slim, lived there. About 25000 people lived there before, now less than 5000 have returned. They're still rebuilding. 86 people died in the disaster. Those who escaped lost everything they had. Very sad. Then in 2020 some of the area burned again. Tragedy squared.
My poem about this fire is in a recent issue of The Helix Literary Magazine. The poetry editor is Nicole Moulton. My thanks to her. The Helix is really good, you should check it out.
https://helixmagazine.org/2022/06/03/paradise-lost-e-martin-pederson/
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