This month, I’m writing posts from prompts in the Writing Down the Bones Card Deck by Natalie Goldberg, shared with me by my friend Barb Edler of Iowa. Today’s prompt opens with a quote: “All of the sadness in the city came suddenly with the first cold rains of winter.” – A Moveable Feast, Ernest Hemingway.
Goldberg invites us to write about weather – so I chose a shape poem for today’s writing, using a memory from Route 66, where I was so frightened by the sky I was practically trembling in the back seat. To see the shape, phone must be turned sideways…..(a real twister)…..
In Tulsa, Oklahoma
I’ve lived through hurricanes I’ve walked the eye in one
that came right over me ~ sunshine in the middle ~
but the wickedest weather I’ve seen was in
Oklahoma traveling Route 66 the sky
was yellow gray like a constipated
face only with the fear of the
stomach so ominous
it erased all
memory of
sunshine
Common Threads 
Kim,
Having lived through many storms in that area, along that route, the sky color I fear is green. That is a tornado sky. Back in the early 1980s my brother and SIL were involved in a horrible wreck in Tulsa. They were lucky to survive. My SIL has glasses shards in her arm that are a reminder of that brush w/ near death. Your poem is a reminder of nature’s power.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Your poem, and its “tornado-ish” form is a reminder of the intense power of nature to change its path as well as lives in a moment. It is a force that we can plan for to a small extent but never fully know until we experience it. I’ve seen tornados in the sky as well as the damage in their paths even though I have never been “in” one. I am immensely respectful of the power and danger within.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I drove through a storm like that in Mississippi. We apparently just missed the tornado. I got my card deck in but haven’t had time to write to it yet. Doing a lot of babysitting these days.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Kim, I love how the topic cards bring up poems and memories that we otherwise wouldn’t think of at the time. It’s great you had the actual footage of the sky. Those clouds look so ominous and threatening. “it erased all / memory of / sunshine” is particularly spooky to me. Well done.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I am in Florida and hoping Erin doesn’t come storming into the southeast. Your poem is beautiful and terrifying! “Erased all memory of sunshine.” Perfect and powerful image!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Perfect shape and perfect description. The constipated imagery is so good. Thank you for sharing and weathering the storm.
LikeLiked by 1 person