An Oklahoma Weather Poem that Makes No Mention of Tornadoes

Paul Bowers

In the rural wilds
the wind drives life away

by the fistful
by the dustful
by the leaful.

We are graveled
and wind groomed
cow blustered, horse gusted.

Know that our limbs bend
manes twist
dirt mangles;

know that the air
weaves and unravels
makes porch pots shatter.

The bob and wheel
of air moves us
lifts us, rhythms us

rhymes us. Who could live
in stillness, plainless
sweepless

without the bloom of a dirty sun
the sharp stab in February
or the hot bent flame of June?

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