It's Beginning... by Rick Hartwell

Birdsong abruptly ceases, first drizzles dampen the yard;
framed by the window, lightning explodes above a low sky
silhouetting trembling leaves of shagbark hickory as gypsy
pulses of air set them dancing like dervishes of rusted taffeta
snagged on the tips of shivering branches, until snatched free.

Ionized air smells like electric granite on the wet concrete.

Roiling thunder rattles the glass panes as if time traveling to
catch up the light or urging minor squalls to assault the shack,
like pebbles thrown at a window to attract an eloping bride;
tall corn and midget soy undulate beyond the distant hedgeline,
buffeted by spasms of air, precursors to a coming major storm.

Rick Hartwell is a retired middle school teacher (remember the hormonally-challenged?) living in California with his wife of forty-nine years, Sally Ann (upon whom he is emotionally, physically, and spiritually dependent), two grown children, two granddaughters, and fifteen cats! Like Blake, Thoreau and Merton, he believes that the instant contains eternity.