Annual Poetry Contest

Hurricane

By James E. White  
2003 Contest: First Place

The sea stood up
And strode across the shore;
Dragged boats upon the land;
Heaved houses on their keels
And sailed them down the street.

Grey steel was the wind
That honed itself,
That hewed and harried
And humbled the land.

Trees lay down in tense repose;
Windows melted;
Rain splintered;
Benches buffooned across lawns;
Trash-cans cantered after wind-lifted lids
And uttered sacrifices in the streets.

The sky blundered down the hill, and we-
We hid in our houses
And played at being tall.