No. Safe. Place.

(My prayers for those affected by the Atlanta tornado.)

Even downtown buildings not
safe from the ravages of
the Beast roaring across the
roof - glass everywhere, nerves
shattered, sparkling on streets lit
by generator power
and the alternating red
and blue of emergency
vehicles demanding to
be let through - my own terror
remembered each time it storms.
This is what scares me the most:
having no. Safe. Place. To. Hide!
Underground shelters should be
mandatory down South: what
is the cost of one life worth??

(c) 2008, Karla Dorman

To Be Free

Night: Winter heavy,
presses. Who knew snow -
so light, so airy -
could have such tonnage
on the soul? Weary
of cold, of being
held prisoner by
the season: more than
ready for Spring, for
the release it brings -

(c) 2008, Karla Dorman

Spring, Arriving

I was snow: the end
of Winter: cold: grey:
lifeless. Making love
was Spring, arriving:
discovering the
color green: it had
always been there: in
the grass, in the trees,
in the growing things
under the blanket
of bitterness . .. . I
just didn't see it
until the moment
you awakened me . .. .

(c) 2008, Karla Dorman

Welcome To My Nightmare

I fight the darkening of the sky,
the lowering of clouds,
the rising of fear.
Sometimes, a basement's available,
others - not on your life!
Tornado coming!!

Can hear it roaring in the distance -
don't see it, just hear it.
Like dreams of falling:
you know, when you hit the ground, you'll die?
That scares me the most: will
I wake up in time?

(c) 2008, Karla Dorman

Too ... Too??

From one extreme to the
other right back to the
first: if you don't like the
weather now, wait a while -
too hot, too cold, too wet,
too dry, too stormy, too
calm, too windy, too - it
will return to what you
want - eventually -

(c) 2008, Karla Dorman

The Feeding

Smoke on the horizon
can't be good. The sun turns
to blood, the sky, black. Flames
hunger for tinder-dry
grasses burnt by drought; they

feed on the fear coming
closer with each gust of
wind. Mile by mile, they get
nearer - how soon before
we see their teeth, gnashing?

(c) 2008, Karla Dorman

Mantra

One careless action, one
wayward spark and poof! the
grass goes up in flame, the
sky fills with smoke, the sun

becomes a ball of blood.
Texas is burning once
again - drought conditions.
Need rain - who would think we'd

be saying that after
the soaking we got last
summer? A new mantra
needed: let's meditate

on w e t. Need the rain, need
the rain, need the rain. None
in the forecast until
maybe Sunday. All they

can say until then is
dry and wind. Just what we
don't want to hear: repeat:
need the rain, need the r a i n!

(c) 2008, Karla Dorman