Storm -image by Lydia Marano*
I understood
Between stillness and the storm
I came to understand time
In the town where I was born
I was ageless, I was nine
I came to understand time
As the sky darkened the day
I was ageless, I was nine
The atmosphere ceased my play
As the sky darkened the day
Sensation sparked in the air
The atmosphere ceased my play
I stood there twirling my hair
Sensation sparked in the air
Dark clouds hung low overhead
I stood there twirling my hair
Full of wonder, full of dread
Dark clouds hung low overhead
Pushing moisture not yet rain
Full of wonder, full of dread
Slowly turned the weathervane
Pushing moisture not yet rain
Air of exotic perfume
Slowly turned the weathervane
My hometown changed to Khartoum
Air of exotic perfume
Heavy rains began to fall
My hometown changed to Khartoum
I was not nine afterall
Heavy rains began to fall
In the town where I was born
I was not nine afterall
Between stillness and the storm
Written for Poetics — 'His'tory, 'Her'story & time machines — at dVerse Poets. Our host, Brian Miller, prompts us to "journey back in time" and write "about a moment in history, a character from our history, an event…and it does not matter how far or near back you go. You get to set the date on the Way-back machine. It could be personal history, national or world history or how you interact with it."
In last Thursday's Form For All prompt, Samuel Peralta challenged us to write a Pantoum. I missed joining in for that prompt but was so excited by the form that I elected to try it out for my moment of personal history — that first sense of inner knowing about oneself and one's time and place in the grander scheme of things.
(*Above image is by another Lydia, Lydia Marano, whose work I also
featured previously here. She's amazing.)
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