~JOHN KNOX~

PENTECOST: 30 JUNE 1993

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                         Written Pentecost 1998,
                            Castelvecchio Pascoli, Tuscany
 

Awakened by wind
Wearywondering: do
Iowa floodstorms beckon?
No; fluent, it lacks
Spurt and pause, a
Gustless rush sustained
Unpunctuated by thunder.

The shades shimmy.  Stirring, I
Whisper to my scientist-spouse
"Geostrophic adjustment,"
Speaking tongues half-translated from the Greek,
Galilean variant,
Babble of a specialist.
A rare nimbus collapses, spawning
Gush into absence
Bursting headlong lest Earth
Spiral it askance,
Retrospective prophet of senescence.

Shade-trees supine, I shed linens and
Arise,
Dark-drunkenly staggering in shag
To the slamshut door—
Passing through soundless stumbling.  A
Severe weather statement scrolls
Assuring end to breeze
Unforeseen seconds hence,
Its source obscured, name
Stricken from public consumption.
Unstanched, the spewing sluiced past

Until sunrise, strewing
Streetslough and spiked squiggles on
Pressure traces to attest.
The tower gauge malfunctioned.
Story unspooled, peers share
Stitched-up passion, since
An eyewitness perspective
Simply isn't publishable.

Soulwhirring but wordless, I
Await a second wind.
 
 

© by John Knox