the near tornado, at the horse show grounds

Earlier today, unsettled by the much-too-much of the world, I took a walk to the horse show grounds down the street, where riders were at work. A storm, it was clear, was coming. I stayed as long as I could, then hurried home.

Ten minutes later my husband and I were standing in our basement looking out upon the skies. Our phones had blared tornado warnings. The newscasters were speaking of supercells. The clouds were circling themselves, collecting power. We saw wind blowing in three directions at once.

And then, where we were, it cleared. A bird sang a lonesome song. Somewhere, we knew, the winds were rushing strong, the power was going out, roofs were being threatened.

We live in a new era of weather.