“Dorothy and the First Tornado” by Julie Cameron Gray
from the 2017 Poem in Your Pocket Day booklet
The sky is greening, foaming
like the top of a bubbling pot.
And look, see how the clouds
climb down to dance with us?
How the animals rush up to meet
them, and conduct the thrashing sounds?
The clouds want to circle
on their own, thick rounds
across the fields, growing near.
Shingles, rakes, shovels through
the air—so many things
learning to fly, or could they do
this all along? Come down
from the sky, you silly cows.
Come back to the barn, blown open.
First printed in Taddle Creek Magazine (issue 34)