Spasms of heat lightning
gaining intensity     Flashes like thunderclaps
across the sky    Wind racing
close to the earth and across the tops of the still bare trees

A patter of rain on glass – thunder crashing –
then more rain in earnest and hail
Kleig lightning illuminates
the big shirtwaists

across the street       Stone porches slick with water
Lying in bed with the newly opened window
blowing rain across my face
and upper arms

Unexpected balm
Radioactive dust carried on the wind from the west
All the way from Fukushima Daichi Nuclear Power Plant in Japan
And petrotoxins in the warm air up from the Gulf courtesy British Petroleum

Cold this morning
A 50° drop in temperature from yesterday
Three tulips budded
Clandestine Father Sky and Mother Earth