Tornado of Hope

Feeling for the people caught in the tornados.

What can a poet do in a tornado?
Cling to an ethereal tree
while the howling winds of an angry planet
rip the words from their hearts?
From their lives?
A tree whose roots were planted
in lands where seeds have grown for ages
in their hearts.
In their lives.
Lives lost in the Heartland.

No!

A poet climbs an ethereal tree.
Planting their feet on the roots of cohesion
ascending the branches of hope
to make tangible a crown of support.
To bear witness!
As the flags of survival are instilled.
Red in a pool of brotherhood.
White in the care of love.
Blue in the protection of response.
Proudly writing the American song!

A poet descends a material tree.
Calming the maelstrom of fear
with words of truth and understanding,
yet cry a warning to the future...

The Earth knows not what it does
It can only be what it is.
What it has become.

2021

Author's Note

I was reviewing with Patricia. She said she is in Illinois and mentioned the storms. After I asked if she was ok I was going to make a funny. Does a poet cling to an ethereal tree in a tornado? She deleted her profile before I could ask. Then I saw the news last night and the utter destruction. Then this poem came out of me. I had to ask Billigami to step out. Go watch a movie or something. It's hard to watch a movie when you have a poem boiling in your brain. I worked really hard on this poem. I was determined that there be no alliteration or assonance. No rhyme. No structure.(a little punctuation for dramatic purposes) No nothing, not even words. But it had to be written. By chance the first two stanza are 10 lines. Balance.

Reviews

[Betty Hermelee]

A moment in time, a horrifying moment, but nature is not to blame....she knows not what she is doing...destroying life...and property....and she will strike again.
where does the poet enter the scene? the poet can embellish what he sees that is true; he can support the truth...."he can bear witness"
Nice write W.
Best, B

[William Michael Reeves]

This is one of those poems that will always be current, unfortunately. There is no anger management class for our planet. And her anger may be justified by our mismanagement of her. We are trying though. Thanks B

[jacob erin-cilberto]

we have no control over the muse, We have no control over Mother Nature.
She struck our area pretty hard on Friday...especially in Kentucky....
We all were on edge, and especially sad for all in the path....a long path....
So much devastation....but in our area we are used to dealing with them....
that's the heartland...
j.

[William Michael Reeves]

That's what I thought, you are in Illinois too. Obviously you're ok. I can't wrap my mind around the tragedy of it. What can a poet do? Write. Witness.

[John the Baptist]

True, the earth knows not what it does, but it is not responsible for climate change, which I fear may be behind these ghastly weather events.

[William Michael Reeves]

For sure it does John. And this is going to become more common. It was 80degrees in the SE and freezing in the upper Midwest and these tornados happened where they met. It's getting warmer and warmer....

[Chris Shaw]

Mother nature has the upper hand. As, a species, we are quite helpless when the going gets tough. I saw the devastation on tv of the tornadoes and the total destruction of areas in Kentucky. It must have been terrifying.

Your final stanza says it all Bill. When that power is unleashed, God help us.

Chris

[Carlos Lorenzo Estrada]

The world will survive with or without us in it. We on the other hand can not survive without it. The answer has always been the same. We need to value humanity and nature equally. Thank you for sharing your poem with us.