Weather or Not
A dragonhead roars across the map,
shades of vermilion, magenta, and heliotrope,
colors unseen since last spring;
its long body writhes as it devours small towns.
The meteorologist stalks left, then right,
points out bulges indicating seventy mile winds,
violet areas denoting hail, and hooks
implying tornadoes –
three currently scintillate like spinning coins.
He moves on to Doppler,
red and green arrows showing wind direction;
our vocabularies swell with scientific terms.
Video shows an encroaching wall:
dark clouds dangle ominous appendages.
Warnings: Roanoke 6:15, Justin 6:37,
Lewisville 6:50 . . .
We listen for the rushing train,
for the nails-on-chalkboard shriek.
© Ann Howells
Ann Howells has edited Illya’s Honey for eighteen years, recently taking it digital: www.IllyasHoney.com. Her books are: Under a Lone Star (Village Books Press) and Cattlemen & Cadillacs, an anthology of D/FW poets she edited (Dallas Poets Community Press). She also has three chapbooks: Black Crow in Flight (Main Street Rag Publishing), Letters for My Daughter (Flutter Press), and Softly Beating Wings (Blackbead Press) which won the William D. Barney Memorial Chapbook Contest 2017. She reads and appears on panels throughout the southwest, serves often as a contest judge, and is published in many small press and university journals here and abroad.
The Loch Raven Review 