ANATOMY OF A NATURAL DISASTER<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Call yourself crazy, but these swallows in the eaves speak with your daughter into the garden, blessing in prom fronds, tuxedos to praise the raging body …………………………………………………………………..<\/span>your house a post- of your photos a glue no prying will undo: wife to husband, you dream of flight, of burning and birth. ….<\/span>You find You admire charred trees for their audacity whole days outside. Blood, as a method of expression, not a map pollen, or the low morning sun \u2013 you\u2019ve no time to question it now, <\/p>\n “Anatomy of a Natural Disaster” is reprinted from Linebreak.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n Ronda Broatch<\/a> is the author of Shedding Our Skins<\/em>\u00a0<\/a>(Finishing Line Press, 2008), and Some Other Eden<\/em>\u00a0<\/a>(2005). Nominated seven times for the Pushcart, recipient of an Artist Trust GAP Grant, and finalist for the May Swenson Poetry Book Award, Ronda is currently Poetry Editor for the literary journal, Crab Creek Review.<\/em><\/a> She is also a photographer, and samples of her work can be seen on her photo blog,\u00a0Ronda Broatch Photos<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" ANATOMY OF A NATURAL DISASTER Call yourself crazy, but these swallows in the eaves speak of arriving, of settling in like flames. …………………………It is midnight when you steal with your daughter into the garden, blessing a nursing bra, holey … Continue reading
\nof arriving, of settling in like flames.
\n…………………………<\/span>It is midnight when you steal<\/p>\n
\na nursing bra, holey pair of panties. How you stare, amazed
\n…<\/span>as people grow from the ground, shimmery<\/p>\n
\nof what moments ago you called your home, gaping
\n…<\/span>windows keeping nothing sacred. …<\/span>Morning you return,<\/p>\n
\nholocaust sanctuary, plastic hair brush grafted to the altar
\nof your vanity. Fascinated, you see in the sodden marriage<\/p>\n
\nthe mouth of your child an O against the ear of a relative
\nwhose name escapes you. ….<\/span>All the next year<\/p>\n
\na looseness in this, and you sleep more and longer.
\n….<\/span>wandering often
\n……………………<\/span> amongst the ashes where you haunt
\nthe ghosts of your belongings: knitting needle stuck
\nto the baby\u2019s doll, the hearts of sweaters eaten away by mice.<\/p>\n
\nto reach beyond earth, think of planting beans, of attaining heaven
\n…<\/span>by climbing. You pine for simpler things,<\/p>\n
\nof your years. In the soil you find another piece of glass
\n…<\/span>and your eyes burn \u2013<\/p>\n
\nwhat with these seeds to tamp down, one more year rushing by
\n………………………………………………………………<\/span>like a house on fire.<\/p>\n