Growth

“Dramatic Lightning Skies” by Toni Grote

 

consider the mayhem
when seasons collide
cracking heads over
rights to the stage

one adamant in its
intent to arrive
another tenacious
unwilling to leave

quarterly clashes
fierce thunderheads
stricken by lightning
contest pride of place

inevitably new is
victor for better or
worse will not fail
regardless its wounds

people also experience
violence of change
collateral computus
joined to our growth

the measure of men
like the seasons is
told by which qualities
outlive the storms

 

 

From my book Ephemera

Windblown

“After the Storm” by Holly Anderson

 

ramshackle lives

knocked about

in the storm

grasp for ethics

no matter the

provenance any

slight handhold

gains expedient

purchase false

principles swarm

helter-skelter

in violent air

immoralities clash

for supremacy

over the winds

that uproot with

ease weightless

tenuous minds

 

 

From my book Bohemian Scents

Tornado Watch

“Dangerous Land” by Erick Sanchez

 

disheveled skies
precipitate uncertainty
storm cellars beckon

 

 

From my books Pieces of Wine and Riverthink

Storm Damage

“Long Time” by Emil Nolde

 

rain scours intaglio sorrows

wind speaks nameless fears

lightning burns bereft hearts

thunder cracks open doom

 

 

From my book Pieces of Wine

Hearing the Rainbow

“Rainbow Thunder” by Rebecca Phillips

 

all the promise
of life
can be heard
in the dying
decaying
gruff voice
of a storm
moving on

 

 

From my books Pieces of Wine and Legacies (vol. 2)

Squall

“Sudden Squall” by Andrew Bird

 

crosswinds collide
chase radical violent paths
through unstable air
then abruptly die leaving
behind a furious calm

 

 

From my books Ephemera and Riverthink

Nor’easter

 

“Winter Chaos, Blizzard” by Marsden Hartley

 
fierce turning winds
born of violent helix
whip oceans with
spirals of face-slapping
haymaker force
severe snowmaker
lashing at coasts
bringing blizzards
to bury the land
fill the valleys and
fatten the mountains
a roaring assertion
of dominance stirring
in flesh and blood
frailty real fear of
cold counterclock
cycles whose cosmic
proportions of power
give fury to weather
in vortex of winter

oh stoic New England
it’s you who must hold
against mad season
rampage and rage
hunkered down in
the warmth of your
plainspoken principles
flannel and fleece
and a fortified hearth
keep your values
alive instrumental in
teachable moments
of terrible trial
with shovel and plow
and a tipple of whiskey
you summon your
ancestral fortitude
rugged and rustic
full fit to withstand
the assaults of Borrhás

Dominion

 

“Autumn Evening” by Emil Nolde

 
unafraid

I walked among storms

standing bold

to the wind

until menacing thunder

asserted itself

Weather

“Storm Warning” by Marjorie Cathcart

 

the storm comes

wind roars in the ears

heart afraid

of itself

we all make our own weather

and suffer the tears

 

 

(my first attempt at shadorma)

Purpose of Storms

“Broken Tree” by Eirik Sørstrømmen

 

winds bend the trees
cracking elderly timber
youth comes into its own

 

 

(originally posted October 2013)