Poetry Archive Now Wordview 2020: Weather Conditions

Day break, and fog brain searchlights for

reasons not to wake up just yet; stay well

asleep; head under cover a little longer.

I find no good excuses. Today, my big

brother arrives from England and I’m due

to pick him up. It’s the first time he’ll visit

since our Cat 5 hurricane and ironically, I

stayed up late last night to track the storm

blowing England unstable; jeopardising

flights. 2020 finds us all dazed and

real living a sci-fi movie—one we did

not script—well at least not consciously.

 

The world seems precariously unpredictable

—or has it always been this way?

I know nothing for sure anymore; fake news

has me blurry eyed and forever questioning;

deciphering realistic reel from real but surreal.

 

Currently the rain this side of the Atlantic is torrential.

Unusual this time of year. Normally I would joke-blame

my brother for dragging his depressed weather system

over here, along with his heavy baggage. But I don’t

feel his gloom precipitated these showers. Time to go.

Lately there are more reckless drivers so I drive slow;

press brakes more often down precipitous mountain

roads. Mist mood is lifting, so is the low cloud. I am

longing to see my brother. I hope we’re all on time.

Recording provided as part of Poetry Archive Now: Wordview 2020. Used by permission of the author.

Poetry Archive Now Wordview 2020 Winners

Welcome to the Poetry Archive Now! WordView 2020 Collection. For the first time the Archive opened its doors wide to poets from around ...

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Celia A Sorhaindo

Born in Dominica, I lived many years in the UK and returned home in 2005. My first poetry collection, hurricane Maria themed, called Guabancex, was published in February 2020.

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A special thank you to our WordView 2020 poets.

Chair of the Judging Panel, Imtiaz Dharker, says: “The hundreds of entries we received blew in to the Archive like a breath of pure, unpolluted air from all over the world, revealing something of the time we are living in, some telling it straight, some slant. It was exciting to check in to the Poetry Archive’s Youtube channel every morning and come upon one unexpected voice after another."

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