\u201cTree-huggers refuse to admit
\nMother Nature can be
\na bitch, or very blind
\nor simply is,\u201d my father insists,<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
though he hikes
\nthe Appalachian every weekend.
\nI\u2019ve never gone with him.
\n\u201cWe are always at the mercy<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
of our environment,\u201d he claims,
\ntells me he outraced a prairie fire
\nin the Sooner state, more hurricanes
\nthan he can list,<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
though he\u2019s always been tempted
\nto get caught up in some disaster,
\nmiss delivering whichever speech
\nhe\u2019d been on his way to give. \u201cNature is,<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I suppose, efficient,\u201d he says, a word
\nthat shows up more than any other
\nin his writing except \u201ctrash,\u201d \u201cwaste\u201d
\nor \u201crecycling.\u201d His boss will use<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
his rhetoric against him.
\nHe and I argue about anything,
\nspring, its length, time
\nand lusciousness after a brief cold spell<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
as opposed to a short orgasm of color
\nafter a long thaw. Storm-chasing.
\nA tornado will turn and stare
\nright at you, rain come down so hard<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
you can\u2019t see the shoulder, but once,
\nand I believe the sentiment\u2019s appropriate,
\nhe saw a triple rainbow with my sister,
\nwho shot an entire roll of film<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
beyond the Panhandle.
\nThey were alone. Dramatic, yes,
\neven at home, even after a long night
\nof ordinary thunder and wind,<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
a tree uproots and smashes
\nmy parents\u2019 bedroom.
\nIt must have all night tossed
\nviolently in the storm,<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
and they slept through it, <\/p>\n in the morning to describe A tornado will turn and stare \/ right at you<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":6834,"template":"","categories":[9,49,119],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6828","article","type-article","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aquifer","category-literary-features","category-poetry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\nexcept that once they woke
\nand saw it swaying, and swaying<\/em>
\nwas still the word they used<\/p>\n
\nit was an accident they lived.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"