Today's poem is Minor Hurricane, Maine, December 2023 by Peter Beckford. It is read by Julia Bouwsma.
Minor Hurricane, Maine, December 2023
The whistling casement window starts to sing.
The timber frame is creaking like a tree.
The plastic skirting rips, it's snapping
like a whip. 3:00 AM, I take it personally.
I built this house, maybe not well enough,
we'll see, so when the wind kicks up a notch,
assaults the hill with long, repeating gusts,
I need to sit and worry, keeping watch.
Then, step out on a soaked and freezing deck.
I could be captain of a wooden ship,
or just a little houseboat, running neck
and neck before the storm, fully in its grip.
This threat will pass, but first, it's getting worse.
Time will tell how far we've blown off course.