what was left...

I stood in what once was an old wood

next to what was left of an old home

Southern Red Oak dead

and broken 

into a figure 8 almost

silent towering 

Sweetgum

splintered & tossed about

Broken fingers, 

and back 

of the world

twisted around

family photographs 

strewn along 

the path of destruction

What method determined

which ones were chosen?

“That's a sound my son
will never forget,” he said .

Crawling in the mud

beneath the old oaks

and massive pines

lying prostrate 

bowing before

the power of the storm

Their trunks trembling

with every roar of thunder

the rain incessant

and appearing crystallized

frozen in time and sky

with every violent

white-hot flash

of electricity 

His many  

dogs baying,

howling,

barking

knowing instinctively

that this is a primordial

force,

this is not a force

made by God-

this is God itself

if God exists.

He said, “They say thank God,
well I myself don’t have too much to say to him.”

He looked around at

his ruined
personal

possessions

Wiped his eyes,

lifted his chainsaw

to start again.