Weather Girl

Analogizing the emotional turmoil of an unforeseen breakup to the incalculable damage done by unforseen weather events. Xenia, FYI, was a two-mile wide tornado in Ohio in the seventies.

WEATHER GIRL

 

You left no room for doubt

When you said that we were through:

Vulgar and terse

Devoid of verse

In a manner not befitting you

                                      Not true to form at all---

                                      CARIBBBEAN SQUALL!

Unexpectedly,

you rejected me

In a manner most abrupt,

AND THEN HUNG UP!

 

I was totally shaken,

Taken aback

At your totally undeserved attack.

Who knows what I did wrong THIS time:

        What CRIME?;

                   Whose SONG?;

                             Which foe’s toes crept ‘cross the line?

 

The line indiscernible

Of each individual

To toe quite impossible,

As the line’s quite invisible!

 

Yet, toe it I had,

(And for quite a good while!)

But last night, ‘thout so much

As a fare-thee-well smile

You my feelings did flail

Like a Philippine gale,

Dealing doses of pain

Which I hitherto,

Had thought were reserved

Entirely to you!

 

Such consummate pain:

SOUTH SEAS HURRICANE!

 

So sudden, so soon:

INDIAN MONSOON!

 

The fury you let go

LIKE THE XENIA TORNADO!

 

And for no reason at all:

CARIBBEAN SQUALL!

1980

Reviews

[Kathy Van Kurin]

2009Mark,
Well, time for reading a new writer.
"Weather Girl" is honest in its voice. How many of us have been the storm or have been the recipient? Your sharing is so needed, as it gives a voice to all of us.
The voice is human and messy and just precious because this who we all are sometimes. So with every storm I hope to remember in reading your poem to be calm and stay in center where I am safe and can be a place of stillness and maybe even learn something.
Thank you for writing. I love early stuff of poets.
blessings,
Kathy

[Nobody.]

Yes! The angry woman.The angry storm. I have tried to "toe that line" myself. A moment of victory for every hour of wreckage it seems.
With this write you have captured a hurricane in a jar, and a screaming match on the page. Brilliant and lucid.
Also, I admire your gift for structure. It does lend itself to a better understanding of the extended metaphor in this piece. It flows like choppy waters.

Truly felt this one.
Cheers!

[An owl on the moon]

You write here with such a fire that brings the imagery and emotion of storms to a vivid fullness. Your form gripped me and the content was stunning!

[Through the Gateway]

Oh, the idiom of a turbulent storm as an ex-lover who broke our hearts is so fitting! I loved the style and structure of this piece, as well as the tongue-in-cheek nature of the language.

Well written, Mark!

[Fabian G. Franklin]

This was humorous and disastrous all at once. I have to say I love it.

[Samuel Dickens]

Well done, Mark. A breakup and a destructive act of nature are foul kin indeed. Your words and rhymes are slick, well-fitting pieces, like those old clocks my father used to fix.

[Jay]

Well written. I felt your thunder of being caught off guard. Loved it.