After the Storm~

No one is home.
They have all gone looking.
Buildings are beaver dams
of the twister’s leftovers.
The roadway is littered
with wind-spirited souvenirs
from a small town turned inside out.
As rescue teams arrive to remove
bodies, they find the macabre:
mannequins wrapped around light poles,
while a wig rests on a barber chair
tossed out on the courthouse lawn.
At the gymnasium, metal struts are twisted
into crucifixes; cars have been impaled;
the shopping center is a tortuous sculpture
of clothing, hangers, shattered glass and plastic bags.
As added insult, minutes after the storm,
amid all the toss and turmoil,
a guilty calm settles over the mayhem
with the cool apology of a clear blue sky,
and out along the road, the merciful
go about their work– policemen and pastors
patiently herding clutches of moaning residents,
who stumble through the rubble
like stunned cattle searching
for a gate back to the familiar.

Anne McCrady, Letting Myself In (2013)

Newlinks: WFAA, USA Today, The Weather Channel

Audiolink: SoundCloud

Poet with a Press Pass features original poems written by Anne McCrady in response to news and world events. The series is produced by InSpiritry. More about Anne and InSpiritry is at InSpiritry.com.