booming

Monsoons graze California in July
arroyos that lay dust-choked race, and churn
But where coy virga leave the surface dry,
the desert vegetation's prone to burn.
Convection that a pilot rides all day
can over-do it with a  frightful jolt.
It's time to fold our fragile wings away
before the valley greets that lightning bolt.
Mulholland stole their river for his town
and Owens farmers still revile his name.
Now, what was orchards' all sage-green and brown
and episodic'ly consigned to flame.
Firefighters don't appreciate the joke;
the empty Owens Lake's now filled--with smoke.