Tuesday
Ahead of the storm
a pair of wrens
search the gutters
for delectable tidbits
before they’re washed
away.
Wednesday
Branches and limbs
akimbo,
wires tangled
like a kitten’s toy.
Phones fall silent.
Butterflies don’t care.
Thursday
Black bear lumbers
across the yard,
oblivious to generator’s roar.
Friday
Wake to rain–
rush to catch
this morning shower
in a bucket.
Saturday
At dawn, the translucent
waning moon
winks good morning.
It’s power never
fails.
Sunday
A book* transports me
to another place and time.
When the lights blink on,
I keep reading.
Draft © Catherine Flynn, 2020
* Hamnet, by Maggie O’Farrell. Simply amazing and I highly recommend it.
Please be sure to visit my friend Molly Hogan at Nix the Comfort Zone for the Poetry Friday Roundup.
Reading to the Core 
What a wonderful chronicle of the path of the storm and its effects on your life, Catherine. I love your dedication to reading. Wasn’t it a wonderful feeling when the lights came on? We never seem to appreciate the simple things like electricity and water.
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Nice poem. Know the feeling. We will all get life turned back on when pandemic ends, and keep reading.
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I love how you captured these moments in small poems that show a distinct calm within the storm.
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Your last lines are perfect–they are the silver linings or the surprise fun from the storm. You are a master of noticing and putting what you notice into words. I love that in the end, you keep reading. Lovely progression of the week.
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How wonderful that you’ve journaled your storm experiences in poetry. I just finished reading Michelle Kogan’s post with some tornado-inspired poems. It makes me realize how lucky poets are to be able to gather material from mayhem. I couldn’t pick a favorite from your poems, but do love that you kept on reading. I’ve added “Hamnet” to my “to be purchased when I cave and buy more books though I really shouldn’t but I can’t hold out any longer” list.
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What an evocative diary of your week! I can relate to letting a book transport you to another time and place. I’ve been reading a novel set in 1666.
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As Molly wrote, I too just read Michelle K’s post reflecting her storm. Love the daily diary & smiled big at the “I keep reading”. I’ve been reading some history of long ago about light and its effect on people at night, the scares in the dark & the uplifting feelings of candles in windows to welcome. Your poems’ tone reminded me of your calm, even with a bear lumbering through! I’m glad you’re okay, too!
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So glad you had a good book by your side. I love the references to the animals and your calm in the face of it all (the black bear especially!). Akimbo was a vocab word from one of our class novels, wish I could add your poem to those long ago resources!
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I love your small poem diary, and glad you have your power back!
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Loved being on the storm journey with you. You captured the small moments so well. Your ending where you keep reading reminded me of a picture book (title is escaping me right now) where a family has found ways to enjoy being without power, and when the lights finally do come back on they turn them off and keep on having fun.
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What wonderful moments you’ve chosen to zoom in on! Love this little journal!
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So much to love in these snippets Catherine, I especially like Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday’s power from the moon contrasting with your lack of power. We went out and bought a generator for we were warned our power may be out all week, it was out for 24 hours. My husbands already returned the generator, it never came out of the box…
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