Two Poems

Aurora

Clouds were scattering west, following the night,

fleeing the scene as if they’d stuck around to see

if anything else might fall and break,

or lay dead in pools

collected along curbs.

Last night, summer skies clashed,

cold and hot air, high pressure and low, everything

exploding, thunder cracking like a lone gunman’s random shots

 ripping through the night, the sky screaming

and, in an instant, bleeding light.

Behind the blinds, it appeared as though

armies battled in the dark, booming guns

pounding enemies hidden without and within,

in the heart of the city,

in the heat of the night,

in the promise of damage and destruction,

in the deaths of things.

Morning emerged, wrapped in a damp towel,

a lambent crimson rim on the horizon

like a gash, a tear where day asserted itself

timorously, taking a tentative step into

where the sky had lashed the land,

where the storm unleashed itself,

where the wind and rain shredded artifice

and laid bare roots to expose corruption,

decay, dirt, things buried beneath the

incremental accumulation of discarded time.

She arose, radiant, chin tilted toward what’s

passed and past, her displeasure betrayed

by the usual ruse of regal indifference.

Dawn shimmers away to fill mirage pools,

leaving the August sun to do the heavy lifting

and hopefully dry things out,

clean up the mess,

carry on with what life remains from before the storm

(if what’s broken can still give grief words),

and believe those scattered clouds will never return.

                                     

White Privilege

Mimicking a hummingbird, its wings bombinate with hovering,

making itself welcome to our hydrangea blossoms.

Out of its innate knack for subterfuge and duplicity,

It has been allowed access to our flowers and their nectar,

even though it was never our intention to invite that family.

“It’s not a bird. It’s a moth.”

“I wondered.

It’s ugly. That awful face and fat body.

All brown and black.”

“Shall I kill it?”