Air So Still
October 2005

Parched ground, wind-burned foliage,
you’d think there was a drought
instead of a storm of rain falling like sheets
blown sideways on a clothesline.
Hurricane’s winds blew everything away.
Plant, bird, animal, human.
But flies soon returned - coffin flies,
they were called - everywhere,
everywhere, crawling on everything.
Everything being the debris of  lives
scattered everywhere.
Then, dragonflies by the hundreds
returned. It was so odd when the ground
was so dry, the air so still, a dearth
of activity by animal and human and yet
the beating of wings by my ear.



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I went off prompt for day 4 of Na/GloPoWriMo because I was inspired by my friend Matt Dennisons new book, The Rock, The Water, which I’ve been reading today. A theme of nature, its beauty and savagery, runs through his poems. The book is published by Plan B Press and can be found on their website. Highly recommend!