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Catherine Esposito Prescott

TO A HURRICANE

At the right speed wind sounds like a train
                   straining its breaks as metal grates metal;
but before you imagine sparks raining
                   circles around the wheels, its voice changes
to a throaty hush. In the early stages, you may
                   mistake it for the neighbors laughing, then crying.
As doors and windows tremble, as locks labor
                   to stay closed, you’ll hear the cry of the mother
burying her child by the river, and of widows
                   who have lost everything to war. And in that moment
what remains of your sense of order is supplicant
                   like the spine of a palm tree bowed toward earth, fronds beaten, torn,
and the sweet cord of belief that holds your life together
                   fights like hell not to snap: the tree’s trunk, your back.

–from Rattle #32, Winter 2009
Tribute to the Sonnet

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§ One Response to “To a Hurricane” by Catherine Esposito Prescott

• maria luzietti says:

  August 17, 2010 at 8:50 am

  very, very nice, catherine!!!

  Reply