Don’t touch—
sidewalks
can scorch
exposed skin.
Temperatures soar
beyond belief.
Weather reports
are like predictions
of doom.
Reduced to sticks
of wood,
swollen rivers
sweep away homes,
steal lives,
wash away possessions.
Tears blur the eyes,
despair silences
the tongues
of the displaced.
Wild fires blaze
and spread
in a quiet paradise
floating in the ocean.
Without warning
a town destroyed,
souls unable to escape
disappear in flames.
Another winter storm,
blasts of snow
cover its path
deadly avalanche
whiteouts on the roads
twisted cars and trucks,
blizzard moving east,
we stock up,
salt the roads,
watch The Weather Channel.
