storm

The Lash

men who are afraid of me

like you,

because I yelled

unexpectedly

or the ones I seduced

too easily

scared I’ll leave

or withdraw regard

my need

seared by wit

can’t forgive

or forget

that spell

he feels

unspecified annoyed

can’t tell

why

a woman tall

and loud and hoyden

is just

too much

a burden

when you’re built to fight or fuck

coward men

need soft chides

with love

and shimmer

not a simmer

from

the lash of

her storm’s

bad weather

messing all your

ruffled feathers

bound in tradition

that’s conditioned

you’re blind

your man eyes

can’t see

so, so sooo sorry

not sorry me

 

Photo by Jennifer Marquez on Unsplash

Stormwater

Stormwater makes gutters exciting

clear and fast and rush, rush, rushing

sticks and leaves and grass and concrete

fresh puddles are new lakes

around a drowned playground

the waves offshore huge and brown

with denuded earth from headlands

floating and crashing

flying to shore

soft and high like Tara Brach’s hair

rain, rain, rain for days makes mirrors

everywhere

then it drains like snow disappears

and you wonder

what happened to all that extra stuff

the world absorbs

enfolding elements, renewed

and we observe only

an iceberg-tip of all

 

 

 

Photo: flooded forest by Claire Doble

Wow, it has been more than a month since I last posted, that is a long time for me. I have felt a bit flat and non-poetic lately I guess. I hope this changes!

Storm damage

when I look around

really look

there’s a plastic bag of cig butts

skidding along the side path

that makes me think

teenagers were trying to break in

and a board against the back fence

like a skate ramp

were they…

while

my front teeth are growing like a rodent’s

who hasn’t gnawed enough carrot

and my guts roil and play

menacing, an active volcano

then I realise the butts were his stash

blown askew by the wind

forgotten, while death floated so close

and a fern has fallen

cracked its pot

in the morning light

I hope my teeth are all right

because

more damage has been done and

I’m more broken

than I thought