Because your magic hands
went soft years ago.

Because you slept through
tonight’s weather forecast
and lightning has just begun
to flash.

Because strands of hair cling
to your brush like antiseptic
threads that bind nothing.

Because I’ve shut the windows
and the deadened silence is chaotic.

Because the veins of your body,
vibrantly knotted for so long,
have disappeared beneath
the fragile parchment
of your skin.

Beacause the power will flicker soon,
and fail, stranding me here
with the bewildered sound
of thunder.

© 2006 Christine Klocek-Lim

Salutations fellow poets!

I’ve been thinking a lot about the weather these past few days, probably because I’ve woken up to the sound of rain drumming my roof every night for a week. Right now it’s windy and pouring again; the air is grey with the falling water outside my window. The trees are bowing low and a new crop of mushrooms has appeared. It’s time to write a poem about the weather.

Poets have a long tradition of writing about the natural world. Just last year the number of poems about Hurricane Katrina was incredible and I’m sure there have been other weather-disasters that have sparked poems. But there is also the joyful element of the weather which poems can celebrate: the rain after a long drought, the excitement of a blizzard, the tremendous heat of the desert. Here are some examples of weather poems:

John Berryman Dream Song 8

Louise Glück October (section I)

Ted Kooser Porch Swing in September

Emily Brontë Spellbound

This week’s spark: write a weather poem. It can be about the tornado you saw on TV, the winter storm that tore down the gutters, the flood that snatched your neighbor’s cat from the tree in your backyard. Be creative! Write a poem that celebrates the wind or grieves the loss of what has happened in a storm’s wake. Good luck!