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Skyline black as a cast iron skillet
Laundry flaps on the clothesline threatening flight
Wind roar splatters skin with dust bullets
Sting of storm approaches
By the barn the old tabby cat howls meow
Her two kittens safe in my apron pockets
My father stops me from going for her
Voice kidnapped by the wind
In the distance a twister coils and spins
Freedom to whirl its destructive dance
We clamor into the storm cellar
Parents, brothers, dogs and kittens
Thunder roars a freight train from Hades
The barn explodes in a sudden blast
Sheets of wind rip rattle the door
Clustered in terror we offer up hope
My Mother sings a hymn soft and low
Father watches her, eyes blue as turquoise stone
Kittens start their playful skirmish
Suddenly the silence outside is deafening
We emerge from the dank moist cellar
Stand on the shimmering expanse of prairie land
Flat skyline swallows the debris
Parts of the whole scattered, fragmented forever
In my waking dreams
I still search for the mama cat
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