Monday, October 24, 2011

tornado at whiskey lake

there was a great confluence of nothing in particular, my father busy, his foreman an asshole, and no, he couldn't have the day off, my sister's breasts growing - b - and how the sun broke on the beads of water down her arms, my brother pulling himself up to the dock, his wrists strong, his pelvis practiced at cupping his balls above the boards, there was a glass with milk ribbed and drying in the valley of the heart and many scratches you couldn't see, a robin's egg blue melmac plate with crumbs upon it, my mother at the sink wore a handkerchief, her eyes so young, while she worked her elbows moving, and i uneven on my feet blinking into the eclipsing sun.

on the head of a pin
a wind.

trees popped like dandelions and were felled and cows took to the sky, great gods pointed crooked fingers at wild women who shook grey lakes and the throat of all hunted animals rose like a cry through every leaf.  while my father safely cussed out his foreman my mother's young eyes stretched wide, my brother's strong wrists grabbed at my sister's bare arms as she fell from where they were blocking the door, and i watched the light and darkness crash and tumble together upon the floor

and yet not one of us died
until later.

7 comments:

  1. Poignant and brilliant. No tornadoes in Brazil, I'd think it would be death stretching his arms to take us somewhere else. He doesn't come when it's not the right time.

    Take care and keep smiling. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. i am glad you were safe,,,

    ReplyDelete
  3. on the head of a pin/a wind
    How they all begin. Gorgeous, erin, just gorgeous.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Time To Smoke Some Dope

    I know I'm not in
    Kansas anymore. Black skies,
    but just before that
    the skies were yellow
    with a sick green tinge and my
    neck puckered with it
    and the sound of it
    comes as if searching for me
    and the papaya
    in the back yard snaps
    leaving only the bare trunk
    while I've gone back in
    to my air controlled
    full blast cold inner sanctum
    free of the monsoon.

    ReplyDelete
  5. great piece of a moment in time...oh and chica, i've been writing up a storm! don't forget there are four places to find me (words, images, ecogrrl and untitled) :)))

    ReplyDelete
  6. hmmm... dis iz stremely gud. i came over 'cuz cristafer sed so n now i lyk it hear...

    ReplyDelete
  7. These are beautiful densities of essence, clarified in moments of near disaster. Damn good.

    We survive when we shouldn't, and then our fragility betrays us unexpectedly. I hit a deer driving home in the dark last night. More like she ran into me, left a big dent, she ran off, both of us shaken.

    ReplyDelete

as brave as i might pretend to be, i'm nothing without you.