Pre-Ike Sky

Neighbors nervously stared at the sky over drinks for courage

We asked each other the same questions, asking eyes and glances

A light rain started to come down

Here's how we hunker down in Houston town

Eek! It's Ike!

Rain was beating down as we hit sleep

All four cuddled up in one great bed

Around four the wind began to change

A soothing surf quality to his roar,

What later they referred to as "the freight train"

It sounded good to me, like a night on the beach

It was during the absence of lulls

That its malovence struck

A chord of concern

Within one's soul

Windows and doors fluttered

Against their frames

Sometimes brought more frightful sounds

A bang, a crash, a thump, a thud

The sound of the trees agonizing defeat

Againts Mother Nature's Son

Not sleeping for awareness

Restless toddler pressed against my chest

Older child who didn't want to wake up now

Although he insisted to stay up before

Husband patrolling perimeter

Nothing's wrong, he says,

We drift off into dreams

And wake up to
Massive power outages

A downed tree

The dog's shade tree

To be exact

Missed it all

On the way down

Wet. Leaves. Stickiness.

No AC

The day before, I made casserolles

We ate cold noodle dishes

Over plates and drank

bottled water

juices, frozen treats

cold cereal

Use up the milk

Chips and beer

They say

The first things off the shelves

Day two off the grid

Hurricane Ike recovery

playing nonstop

On battery radio from college

I haven't used in ten years

Reports called in from

stores that are open,

Where you can buy gas

Mayor and Council grilled

over open flames

by reporters pressing

for timelines

As we wait to find out

Where we can get ice...

Our cooler is low

But we don't worry about it

And sure enough Ole Steve

Was a boy and brought one

Over anyway

And later, it was a generator

When his power came on

And ours was still out

Only for three more hours

In which we microwaved

Our casserolle dinners

And watched some TV

Cleaned the yard

and then

some boy outside shouts

"The power is back on!"

And we return the generator

And look out in our yard

And see it playing out

on the TV

"360, 000"

have power returned

Only 1.75 million to go....

in the Post Ike parade