Storm Imagines Alternate Lives
If Storm were a star, it would orbit a gravitational greed at the center of everything. It would burn for a millennium, the brightest bright in the night sky. No photographer, no artist, no composer could capture the magnitude of its magnetism. But Storm wouldn’t mind if they tried. It would burst—supernova, spreading its particles throughout the galaxy to create new planets, to propagate its perfection into the furthest reaches of the inky universe.
If Storm were a rainbow, it would be rich—with all those pots of gold doubloons, all the clover-and-moon shaped marshmallows it could eat, all the little green men to do its bidding. Everyone would grin, not gripe, when Storm displayed its stripes in the sky. And Storm would promise never again to flood the earth. And say it with a smile.
Storm Visits Preschool
Storm huffs & puffs. Storm blows the blocks down.
Storm dissolves the crackers, downs the jam, drinks the juice.
It ruins the storybook with its rain. It does not share the toy train.
Storm dumps finger paints, leaves markers without caps, toys tossed out of crates.
Storm chases & shoves. Storm roars & raves. Storm booms & bangs.
The children, these twelve tots with their sticky fingers & nonstop tongues,
they are not afraid. They grab Storm’s clouds & squeeze them like stuffies.
They leap for lightning bolts. They dance in the downpour. They open their mouths
& fill their stomachs with rain. Storm thinks they’re insane. Out the window,
down the street, Storm leaves in search of somewhere it’ll be feared & esteemed
it hovers in a dive bar, orders a shot, signs up for karaoke, ready to sing
“Rock You Like a Hurricane.” Storm flips its mane.
Storm Arrives at My House
Storm’s cumulus clouds combine into mountains,
gaining strength, deepening in hue. Storm’s breath
whips leaves into a violence. The radio squawks tornado,
but I can’t hear if it’s watch or warning, nor do I know
the difference, just that it’s time to leave everything behind—
even my boots & jacket. I welcome water & wind,
walk toward the soul of Storm until I reach a field of asters.
I lie down, spread my arms, embrace Storm
like a lover I once lost to a gust.
