August 2024 - I Am the Storm
/August is sun and heat. It is vegetation, sere-edged and crisp underfoot; and it is fruit nearing ripeness on the tree. And sometimes, often with little warning, it is the punch and wonder of a late-summer thunder storm.
I Am the Storm
by Catherine Weber
The air is still.
No roo-roo-room of the bullfrog,
No drone or bellow. No caw.
I wait on the steps as the weather turns.
Now, I am the storm.
I am the raindrops pelting the ground,
I am the thunder and the rage
of all that has come before.
So we sit in the webbed lawn chairs
sheltering from the onslaught, waiting it out.
Working through a litter of thoughts,
treading to the other side of the storm.
Ghosts arrive, reminding us how we got here.
The wash of loss, a shroud of bitter sadness,
a rush of kindness, and blurry hope.
Finally, the sun arrives
and we walk the path home, still
sorting out what comes next.
Catherine Weber is an award-winning storyteller (3X Moth StorySLAM winner), poet, visual artist, community organizer, and marketing executive. In 2017 she founded Art on the Trails, a juried art exhibition and poetry program in Southborough, MA. Catherine is also owner of Southborough Free Art Gallery, a tiny gallery at the end of her driveway. Learn more at catherinemweber.com.