Photo by Ed Montes Copyright 2006

Afraid of Thunder

Afraid of thunder still? You're not a girl
who doesn't know the natural causes for
the flash and crack and rumbling or the sudden
plunge of darkness on a summer day.
But still you sidled up to where I worked
and rubbed against me like a frightened cat.
Then turned off my computer to protect
me from the lightning being drawn up through
the plug and down a cable to the mouse
you pushed away from me. I laughed at such
a comic book scenario and told
you it was grounded. But a rapid flash
which crackled on its own, before a low
and bassy boom, took all my words away
and made you pull me gently from the chair
into the inner room where you could lie
enfolded in my arms and whimper sighs
against me every time the lightning sparked.

by Ray Pospisil

Ray Pospisil is a strong advocate of poetry as a verbal, performing (and listening) art, and he regularly reads in clubs around New York City. Ray has hosted the Modern Metrics reading, and his work has appeared in The Lyric, Iambs & Trochees, The Newport Review, Rogue Scholars and elsewhere. His chapbook, Some Time Before the Bell, is available from Modern Metrics Press. Raised in New Jersey, Ray now lives in Brooklyn and works as a freelance journalist, covering environmental and energy issues for publications in the US and the UK.


Table Of Contents    Next Poem(s)    Guidelines