Day 10 of Poetry Month ...THE PATH OF THE STORM

IT’S IMPORTANT TO KNOW THE PATH OF THE STORM

            Rain today, storm moving northward.

            What comes next after this, where is the smooth flying?

            Second-guess the outcome.  

            Never mind, it will happen.

            And then again,

            hardly ever is there a map to follow.

            The best planning, only guesswork.

            We will be happy next week.

            Too hard not to think about not thinking.

            Too hard not to choose the path of the storm.

            Warnings posted.  Try to guess better, guess wiser.

            Fasten your oxygen mask in place before you help the passenger next to you.

            Do not activate the smoke alarms.

            Everything is prohibited in the restroom.

            Too much to contemplate.

            The moments seem fraught with danger.

            I have never enjoyed the opera for that very reason.

            Someone always dies. 

            (Of little consequence to the audience,

            but how must that feel over and over,

            night after night, for the tenor?) 

            Throw the dice again,  once more.

            That’s it.  We’re on a roll, words tumbling out now.  

            Don’t stop to think.

            Hard to plumb the depths,

            and find truth at the bottom of all this.

            Wait till the bubbles float to the surface.

            Two-handed creatures are full of such self-doubt.

            We give with one, and punish with the other 

always hoping we are wrong.

            But the target is us.

            Fasten your oxygen mask in place before you help the passenger next to you.

            It’s important to know the path of the storm.

© Sally Stevens 2019