February 17, 2025

the winds rush against the house
which has stood for near one hundred years
and yet my heart leaps
into my throat
and i can’t breathe
or calm the ba-BUM ba-BUM ba-BUM
because what if
what if
what if
this time, the wind really does mean
the ominous
the apocalypse
the end?

January 10, 2024

the wind howling all night
rain smack splat thwacking the windows —
the puppy and i, unable to rest our eyes,
for hoping the terror in the night
is just nature knocking a little too forcefully
on our door
[but fear it is something more];
staring into the darkness
hoping to see a clue being borne,
hoping to see the end of the storm —
unable, we slink to a different bedroom
a smaller, cozier, stiffer bedroom
thank goodness for a guest bed, one where i can
fall asleep
but i wish wish wish
it could be a bed
where i stay
a
sleep
all night
all night

alas, alack,
’tis not to be

[but at least sleep caught up with the puppy]

December 18, 2023

turn up the heat
turn on the dog-calming music
welcome our tired bones
from a restless sleep
awake because the outside
sounds like it’s trying to get in
banging and knocking and blowing so hard
over and over and over again

January 17, 2022

windy nights
and nightmares,
the storm of the century
(or at least of the year so far)
though probably no great catastrophes
or losses
except the loss of any restful sleep
and the catastrophes made up
in our minds:
big thuds
(was it real?)
giant wasps
(totally not real, right?)
and smart thieves using the sound of the storm
to cover any footfalls or break-in attempts
(logic says no one would want to be out in this
crazy
giant drip rain wet snow in the cold windy climate,
but boy do our imaginations
run away with us,
and our dreams take us
exactly to the place(s) we fear
most
and give us the fright
of our life
(or at least
of the night)
and now
everyone
[dog,
cat,
kip, and kip]
needs a nap.
)

October 26, 2021

rain pouring
pounding
on our new (to us)
(though, in actuality, quite old)
(and yet not as old as the houses we grew up in)
house.
and clearly this little building has withstood
rain
and storm
and hurricane
and wind
and whatever else…
but it’s the big droplets on the a/c unites
that stick out of the windows
is really what
keeps me
awake