That Summer Storm

You will remember Joseph Murphy's poetry as being elegant, powerful, and connected. His most recent poem, The DeSoto, was included in Contributor Series 5: Dramatis Personae. His poem today will elicit strong memories of summer storms in all readers. His take on that storm is imbued with much that is unwritten though. Read this, write a poem of your own, and then reduce the word count by half. See if it makes your poem twice as powerful.  
 
That Summer Storm
(For Kristen, in remembrance)
By Joseph Murphy
The thunder woke me.

Lightning's blue flash
Colored the sill; rain
Cooled my bare chest.

I joined friends
After a bolt
Shot through pine
Yards from where I lay.

We huddled in a narrow stairwell.

The children joked;
Giggled.

My knees shook at each peal:

Too dark
For them to notice,
Luckily.

Posted by Annmarie at 7/12/2010 11:08 PM
Categories: today's words
Tags: Joseph Murphy fear lightning storm memory summer thunder
 

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