It’s Poetry Friday! Jone at Check It Out is hosting today’s celebration!
People can say all they want to about earthquakes, but as a California native, I am used to them. I’m not nearly as calm about the storms we experience in Mississippi.
In my job at MSU, we write a lot about disaster preparedness, response and recovery, and this week I’ve been revisiting some stories related to the tornado we narrowly escaped nearly a year ago, in April 2014. Farther back, in April 2011, Smithville, MS and towns all the way to Tuscaloosa were devastated. As April approaches and we celebrate the arrival of Spring, my thoughts turn to the darker side of this month in our part of the world.
Pear trees in bloom at the Chapel of Memories at MSU.
Photo by Megan Bean/Mississippi State University via https://www.facebook.com/msstate/photos/a.10153120459274564.1073741941.5606464563/10153120459679564/?type=3&theater
Spring in the South: A Soap Opera
By Keri Collins Lewis
Mother Earth welcomes
her daughter, Spring,
with open azure skies and
a velvety verdant carpet.
Migrating robins chorus a greeting
while spring peepers
throb the bass line
from the pond’s shallow edge.
Pear trees flash white —
a line of paparazzi
winding down the lane,
petals raining confetti.
Then, in a clash of sibling rivalry,
Brother Winter throws
one last tornado-tantrum before his exile,
leaving chaos in his wake.
“Pear trees flash white —
a line of paparazzi”
Very nice, Keri! An apt comparison!
Thanks, Diane! At least the pears are less obnoxious than the paparazzi.
I like turning the weather into actors and creating a tale with some unexpected drama — nicely done!
Thank you! I’m glad you like the ending.
Love this soap opera — great images and nice contrast with Winter’s last tantrum.
Thank you! The teacher in me wants to redirect the storms to more productive pursuits.
Great images and language use, and I especially liked that the storm was not female! Yeah! “Brother Winter throws/ one last tornado-tantrum before his exile,” I can just see him going to pout in his room, a slammed door on the way. LOL
In Florida, the fear of hurricanes is what motivates preparedness. We’ve been lucky in recent years, and I’ve become lackadaisical I’m sorry to say. I do appreciate a good poetic soap opera though!
I’ve been in tornadoes growing up in Missouri, know of what you’ve written, but thinking of it as mother nature’s “tornado tantrum” is wonderful, Keri, although not a pleasant thing at all. I wish you well this April.
Thanks for reminding us of the dark side of spring — that clashing “sibling rivalry.” (nice!) We’ll hold all the residents of tornado alley in our thoughts.
(PS–did I ever tell you how much I LOVE the background photo for your blog? GORGEOUS. It makes me calmer every time I visit you here!)
I agree, earthquakes are much less daunting than tornadoes and severe thunderstorms. Wishing you a calm April. =)