An Ocean in a Room

yesterday
all of hell came pounding
crawling up the walls of my home

we lost power a few times
felt the neighborhood flinch
and heard the trees ache
bending against the will
of a late December squall

my neighbors have never lived
through an honest disgrace
of wind and fire and flood
they wouldn't know the real danger
until it was too late
so they batten their windows
pull up their stakes
and hide away a spell
until the birds sing

some years back you told me
you were no longer living
where the good storms blow
born a child of coastal madness
of Kansas tornadoes and
the laughter of Devil's winds
you said it's not bravery
so much as knowing when a storm
means something more

I sometimes have long dreams
of a small and timid room
filled with careless churning ocean
of you and I standing there
upon the angry shores
wondering at the paradox
the unfathomable depths
the vastness of everything
held in a white-walled tomb

goddamn this ill wind
and every endless rushing tide
the madness of preparation
the savage procession
of death and time

damn the waters
the breakers
the relentless waves
my broken hands
and my need to cling tightly

while grasping at straws

ㅤㅤㅤ

ㅤㅤㅤ

For Mitch