Drifting in and out of consciousness
On the verge of oblivion
A distant rumble
Tumbled
Into
Existence
It rolled through the valley
And then promptly
Disappeared
Into
Silence
The creatures of the night
Stood rooted in place
Gazing up at
The sky
Into
Darkness
As if sensing an audience
The rumble tumbled
Back into being
BOOMING
Into
Action
Most creatures scattered for shelter
While others huddled in awe
Listening, anticipating
Her awesome
Entry
Into
Revelry
She did not disappoint their attentions
Splashing light in thunderous
Pauses of violent display
Hurling white hot
Bolts of energy
Like spears
Of drama
Into
Mindfulness
Her booming joy threatened to bring
Down the house before, as if
On queue, she eased back
Drenching the valley
At curtain call
Lulling her
Audience
Back
Into
Oblivion
©?2026TaraHicks
Wheelsong Books Ambassador to South Africa
In Support of Save The Children
And Invisible Poets everywhere
A pretty sunny day can start off with white fluffy clouds,
the bright blue sky becomes the big backdrop.
I love to sit and watch the white fluffy clouds,
as they dance across the bright blue sky.
Many times as I watch,
I see zoo animals walking by.
Then the thunder sounds off,
like a canon across the sky.
The day is going from pretty to dark,
is rain about to come in for a visit?
As the peaceful wind starts to pick up,
the birds fly to hide.
It has been hot and dry here,
everything needs a bath and a cool drink.
The flowers and trees welcome the rain,
as the pitter patter starts.
Come down slow they seem to say,
make the rain last for awhile.
There are rumbles of thunder,
Yet, outside, a bird
Is chirping; I wonder
If he has not heard.
For rain clouds have started
Ejecting some drops
At Nature’s imparted
Commands; movement stops
In the trees, where each leaf
Hangs there quiet and still
For it is my belief
They’ve a job to fulfill,
Which is follow the lead
Of what Nature decides.
To survive, they must heed
Their instinctual guides.
As the raindrops increase
There is no other sound
Than the cloudburst’s release;
Not one bird sticks around.
Last night I couldn't
sleep a wink at all
for
the sound of thunder
like the Gods' bowling ball
rolling on a hardwood floor
resounding on the airs
doing a number on my slumber
in the room upstairs
but
in the serenity of silence
I'll switch off the light
catch a nap
and if it's quiet tonight
hopefully
between moonbeams
be
carried away on dreams sweet dreams
I woke inside a sphere
with no seasons...
a planet that forgot
how to turn.
Thoughts drift like pale spirits
with too many eyes,
gazing on the edges
of unfinished dreams.
I try to speak,
but my voice becomes vapor,
curling into symbols
that the air refuses to read.
Still, somewhere
a door made of thunder
waits to be opened
by a hand I have not grown yet.
2 John writes, so much to say, on parchment old,
Revelation 22: My reward is with Me, as foretold.
"I truly thought His word was real."
Yet He comes no more, with a seal.
I am nothing more, upon the Pacific's shore,
Than a single grain of sand, nothing less, nothing more.
"He is coming back?" you say with a cry,
A thousand years pass, and the empty heavens lie.
Lightning flashes, and the roaring thunder breaks,
A sudden bolt of lightning wakes!
"You held a holy presence deep inside!"
"In a grain of sand, let My dreams reside—
In a grain of sand, let the Lord's dreams hide."
Even if someone tramples your dream in the dust,
You will still pray, as you must.
Crying out, "Why do You give me this pain and trial?"
"Lama Lama Sabachthani," for a little while.
"You already hold My dream, child, all the way."
sharp lightening strikes
dazzlingly dark dimensions ~
hot summer’s mashup
(July Full Moon – Western Abenaki)
Flicker of ancient shadows playing with fire.
Crackle of light, fine spirited wind and chimes.
Infant’s lullaby, before the sea aspire.
Unfurling leaves, hunter green, sonorous climb.
Twinkling of eyes, brightening of poet’s inspire.
Christmas bow unwrapped, labyrinthine daytimes.
Wonder of a storm, rocking and rolling force.
A stupendous show, tree splits, a ship off course.
Peaks and valleys alight with touch, candlelight.
Flicker and sizzle, creaking, crashing of bed.
Crisscrossing to transcend remarkable height.
She whispers a moan; romantic fire, widespread.
Trunk bends, ceiling fan blowing a clash downright.
They’re like thunder and lightning. Oh what a night!
A storm, like a firepit, is stoked; flames are high.
All at once, all is calm. Cloud's singular sigh.
I seek the thunderclouds
on thunderous nights
when karma roars under sieving clouds
bolting within, driven by desires
the darkness of Brahman & vitality of Krishna
rumbling earthlings, throbbing arteries
blood rushes the heart
lightning striking limbs succumbing
my knees weaken,
streaked is a surrealist’s sky lit,
shamed shadows hide
tinkling rain droplets
quenching naked napes
given into those elements
evoking God's wrath,
judgement alive, awoken I’m gaining
invoking reality, unearthing its
primal pathways
I heard the hollowness that this heart hithers ~
but to tame my tears, must I trust the twilight
that ripped me in tremors and toxic tales,
the titanium lightning that traded me thirsty,
like the thunder that cuts across the ribbed sky?
these tantalizing trembles of Thor have left me,
wilting in memories, where moon rests in malice
and the monsoon maiden murmurs in wrath,
unspoken within roars of wallflower leopards ~
who ink me, laced with tiger-lilies and lethal lies.
I ache for you, stretched across sun sighs,
a bereaved goddess of thunderstorms,
vows to sear within silver streaks of solace
stripped of silk and sacrifice,in rust-skin revolt,
seething a smile across slaughtered stars,
and be the Bronté light in brooding blindness,
that cunning cyans cease to code and conceal,
I am the feminine glitch of golden gloom ~
perfumed with mercuric petals that echo rain,
in the restless release of reverent renaissance...
I stayed for the sound
that came after the light.
Now I open the window.
The storm leaves rain
on the old wooden steps,
and the night smells of earth.
Lightning finds the trees
for a moment,
showing branches
through the window.
I stand in the doorway,
listening as it rolls,
my hand still resting
on the wooden frame.
The rain keeps falling.
I let the night stay awhile.
I listen a little longer.
The calm skies welcomed a light rain that lasted
a while, but suddenly natures unpredictable flare
gathered its clouds and burst into a heavy storm.
With intense luminescence of a lightning-lit sky,
the soft light precedes the shatter of thunder that
pierced the heavens with an iron bolt; and again,
repeating its uproarious cry until Zeus was satisfied.
At the storm’s climax, mirroring each other’s motion,
aligned together, our bare homologous bodies
in full sway intertwined under blue satin skies,
synchronize as an unwritten symphony, a bohemian
rhapsody of involuntary euphoria that seems to last
forever. When the storm finally subsides, relaxing
in each other’s arms, in search of a resolution unlike
the placelessness of other times never visited before.
Our eyes shut, the words “I love you” yet unsaid.
thunderstorm last eve
water stands in dirt puddles....
roadkill all gone now
vultures drink from fresh water
after a sizable lunch consumed
Written: July 8, 2026, for a contest sponsored by Craig Cornish
********************
Others shutter windows
at the first metallic whisper—
I unlatch mine.
The heavens rehearse
with the rhythm of sanctuary,
and my pulse answers
like an old instrument
finally finding its tuning.
Lightning does not threaten me;
it signs the sky
with impossible handwriting.
Love has always arrived this way—
sudden,
unbidden,
splitting certainty
to reveal the living grain beneath.
The storm is not my adversary
but my mirror:
both of us beautiful
only when we dare
to break the silence open.
Ceraunophilia
Winter freezes the glass
Thunder splits the sky without warning
Lightning nails a dry tree
Bark burns loud and throws sparks
Moonlight cuts the snow lake
My window throws it back
The first time I saw you in the garden
Your glance struck like that
White sudden through bone
My heart caught fire
Red and blue like your eyes
Phoenix ash on my tongue
The whole world turned green
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