First Storm and Thereafter
Kimberly Hancock
First Storm and Thereafter
What I notice first within
this rough scene fixed
in memory is the rare
quality of its lightning, as if
those bolts were clipped
from a comic book, pasted
on low cloud, or fashioned
with cardboard, daubed
with gilt then hung overhead
on wire and fine hooks.
What I hear most clearly
within that thunder now
is its grief—a moan, a long
lament echoing, an ache.
And the rain? Raucous enough,
pounding, but oddly
musical, and, well,
eager to entertain, solicitous.
No storm since has been framed
with such matter-of-fact
artifice, nor to such comic
effect. No, the thousand-plus
storms since then have turned
increasingly artless,
arbitrary, bearing—every
one of them—a numbing burst.
And today, from the west a gust
and a filling pressure
pulsing in the throat—offering
little or nothing to make light of.
Source: Poetry (April 2011).
Main Idea
Why I chose this poem
Every Storm by Gary Allen
Oh so your standing in the middle of the thunder and lightning
I know you're feeling like you just can't win, but you're trying
It's hard to keep on keepin' on, when you're being pushed around
Don't even know which way is up, you just keep spinning down, 'round, down...
Every storm runs, runs out of rain
Just like every dark night turns into day
Every heartache will fade away
Just like every storm runs, runs out of rain
So hold your head up and tell yourself that there's something more
And walk out that door,
Go find a new rose, don't be afraid of the thorns
'Cause we all have thorns
Just put your feet up to the edge, put your face in the wind
And when you fall back down, keep on rememberin'
Every storm runs, runs out of rain
Just like every dark night turns into day
Every heartache will fade away
Just like every storm runs, runs out of rain
It's gonna run out of pain
It's gonna run out of sting
It's gonna leave you alone
It's gonna set you free
Set you free
Every storm runs, runs out of rain
Just like every dark night turns into day
Every heartache will fade away
Just like every storm runs, runs out of rain
It's gonna set you free,
It's gonna run out of pain,
And set you free
Connection
My poem
By Kim Hancock
Its a rare sight to some, and the outcome of it can go either way.
Next time you see one of these, turn and run is what people say.
The tornado only paves one path, 'a path of destruction with no known course of direction.
But I don't want it turn and I don't want to go and run the other way.
I want to run into it, and meet it face to face on the path of destruction.
I know its not something most people would expect to hear from me, but just the thrill of running after a tornado excites me.