Last week's storms were more the fodder for photos than for poems, although in this instance, seeing was not even believing. Telephone poles suspended in mid-air, branches piled a story high, trees like fallen giants between houses, groups of neighbors wandering the streets in the rain, tops of trees blown into other yards...But, nonetheless, the muse was not silent, so a pen and legal pad were employed. The result was a poem now posted on the corner of Stewart and Dewitt and on the poetry fence (the fence was damaged, but there are new poems there for young and old). See This Poem is Being Written After the Storm under POEMS.
We regained power on Saturday afternoon thanks to the efficient work of power crews from near and far! At a glance it was hard to know whether we were in a three ring circus or in the operating theater. In the end, I decided it was the operating theater. I watched from our porch and second floor as the crews strategized under a tangle of wires, telephone poles, and branches. Then the surgeon in the bucket snipped and tied with his rubberized hands, a switch was flipped and we had power!
As I write I know there are still those we are without power and who are in bad humor about the rotting food in their fridges and freezers and I know there are those who are agonizing about the cost of having trees removed and their homes repaired. I know there are those who would like to remove every tree they see in sight. I would recommend the opposite. Plant more trees! If you live where you can plant a shade tree, do! Trees help regulate the climate and provide shade and habitat! They give us far more than they take away!
