The Derecho

From My Hometown Poems

The earth gives
The rain watches
The wind takes.

I emerge
Into the last breath 
Of the storm 
Hot and muggy
The air a thick cloud
Steamy rain still streaming down.

I emerge 
Into a world of destruction.
Entire trees upended
Ripped from the ground
Roots akimbo
Like the unkempt mane of a wild animal
Branches littering every surface
Canopies sliced clean 
As if with the swipe 
Of a simple bandsaw. 
Wires and light poles
Strewn about 
Like childrens’ toys.

The earth gives
The rain watches
The wind takes. 

My heart heaves in my chest
As I take in the trees
My trees My trees
A massacre of trees.
The songs in their limbs
The stories in their bark
The history in their trunks
All gone
Taken by the wind.

I emerge
Into the last breath 
Of the storm
So small so humbled.
They were never 
My trees
But I mourn them 
Like the dearest of friends
It feels like having a hand gone
Or part of my soul
Suddenly missing.

The earth gives
The rain watches
The wind takes. 

---

Iowa Writers’ Collaborative Columnists 

Laura Belin: Iowa Politics with Laura Belin, Windsor Heights

Doug Burns: The Iowa Mercury, Carroll

Dave Busiek: Dave Busiek on Media, Des Moines

Art Cullen: Art Cullen’s Notebook, Storm Lake

Suzanna de Baca Dispatches from the Heartland, Huxley

Debra Engle: A Whole New World, Madison County

Julie Gammack: Julie Gammack’s Iowa Potluck, Des Moines and Okoboji

Joe Geha: Fern and Joe, Ames

Jody Gifford: Benign Inspiration, West Des Moines

Nik Heftman, The Seven Times, Iowa and California

Beth Hoffman: In the Dirt, Lovilla

Dana James: New Black Iowa, Des Moines

Pat Kinney: View from Cedar Valley, Waterloo

Fern Kupfer: Fern and Joe, Ames

Robert Leonard: Deep Midwest: Politics and Culture, Bussey

Tar Macias: Hola Iowa, Iowa

Kurt Meyer, Showing Up, St. Ansgar

Kyle Munson, Kyle Munson’s Main Street, Des Moines

Jane Nguyen, The Asian Iowan, West Des Moines

John Naughton: My Life, in Color, Des Moines

Chuck Offenburger: Iowa Boy Chuck Offenburger, Jefferson and Des Moines

Barry Piatt: Piatt on Politic Behind the Curtain, Washington, D.C.

Macy Spensley, The Creative Midwesterner, Davenport/Des Moines