Tuscaloosa 04272011/2210UTC

You tore my beliefs from their foundation

I lay, cut and broken, looking at a calm blue sky

While thunder threatens a repeat and rain soaks my skin.

I’m too shocked to realize this is not my imagination.

The fierce wind took my breath and I can’t get it back no matter how hard I try.

Words stumble over my tongue and don’t make it over the din.

I sensed something brewing, yet went forward with blind eyes

The anger rising like heat waves from the concrete.

The sadness leaching from the pavement, fueling the air.

It never ceases to amaze me, the fact that I’m surprised.

My thoughts, flailing about like a child’s tantrum, never complete.

Suddenly, it's upon me, and I walk into its lair.

Welcome inside the bear’s cage.

You won’t see me coming in the wrapping rain.

I’m going to tear you apart until there’s nothing more.

Everything you ever wanted, exploding in the windy rage...

           till nothing remains.

            Choke the inflow,

             transition to a new tower,

               repeat as before.

Wilberforce

Wilberforce was just down the road,

But grandma was the only visitor we’d get from there.

Her trips stopped in a long-ago, early April

by a malevolent caller who lives in my daily nightmare.

Her words, winding through a life spent working with her husband

to raise a barn,

raise crops,

              raise a family

on top of a stop for the Underground Railroad,

left me longing for Sundays and the site of her worn Rambler

turning into the driveway.

Two weeks before Easter, in 1974, came a revelation like no other.

Nine years earlier and two years before I became her favorite surprise,

not long after Palm Sunday services let out, “the cyclone” arrived.

Grandpa told her he’d be back in a minute,

but it stopped his heart and closed his eyes.

My gaze grew fixed and my jaw dropped down.

My first story of loss happened just outside of town.

The next two days slipped by slower than an L&N freight.

My heart was heavy as I carried this story’s weight.

The word “cyclone” was replaced by “tornado”,

but little did I know, that not a few hours later,

it would be up the road from Wilberforce,
darkening my window.