» Poetry

Nightmare of Intercourse with Lightning

A girl wants to couple
 with a god outside
 of personified form.
 
Something whispers
 inside her, He lives
 in this rainstorm.
 
She runs mad
 through the water drawn
 wind to join him.
 
His seed is lightning.
 Things end badly
 for her.
 
Judgment and custom
 would have us
 add predictably,
 
for we survive,
 having mastered balance,
 having learned to celebrate
 
what restrains us
 from seeking the purest essence
 of what we most revere.

This work originally appeared in The Florida Review, Vol. 39.1 & 2.