clouds still roil, dark as wraiths,
while cattle graze, forgetting
how the storm bruised,
how they bawled, eyes flashed
with lightning.
I still feel the drench —
thunderous dread crippling me,
how I flattened my soul
against the earth
to escape notice
by the gods.
– Sarah Russell
Painting by Arkhip Kuindzhi
It’s quadrille day at dVerse, with the prompt storm. Come join the fun.
Sarah Russell Poetry 
I like the magnificence of this, how the storm makes us feel so insignificant, so easily crushed. Love the painting too. I like Kuindhzi’s work.
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Thanks, Jane. I like his work too — in this case, the overwhelming sky and the stabbing light that seems so eerie after a storm. I had a line about the light in the poem, but with only 44 words to play with, alas, it was left on the cutting room floor.
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It brings back the memory of getting caught in a storm under an elm (before I knew better). Gave me the shivers. I’m sure that means your poem is effective… at least for unfortunate storm riders like me.
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Thanks, Charley. We had a cabin in the Rockies for about 10 years. The storms there could literally make your hair stand on end. I know the shivers feeling well!
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Goodness, this is gorgeous.
LOVE:
“clouds still roil, dark as wraiths” — I can see them, in their dark dance.
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I have to admit, Harry Potter’s Dementors inspired me…
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I like the contrast here, between the cattle who are so forgetting of fear, and the writer who is still caught up in it. And I love the word roil, and wish I had remembered it for my poem. Dammit.
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I get the cool word this time, Sarah. You’ll come up with one I’ll covet next time. Happens to me all the time.
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We pull off the road when driving in a heavy rainstorms. It kind of reminded me of escaping notice by the gods.
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I was in one of those last week. Terrifying at 65 MPH. I know the feeling well.
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I love those wraith clouds, Sarah, and the bruising storm!
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Thank you, Kim
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I actually think a storm like this would work as metaphor as well.. there are people who are storms..
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Why yes. Yes there are, Björn. 🙂
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This is incredible.
I especially like this section:
“forgetting
how the storm bruised,
how they bawled, eyes flashed
with lightning.
I still feel the drench —
thunderous dread crippling me”
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Thanks a lot, Omega.
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“flatten my soul against the ground to escape notice by the gods”. Very descriptive. I love the painting.
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The polarized light is so beautifully captured here, I think. Thanks for your comment, Bev.
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The storm is magnificent and powerful ~ Love your poem and photo ~
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The painting actually came first, Grace, before the poem. The Storm prompt was perfect for it. Thanks.
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how I flattened my soul against the earth to escape notice by the gods… Unforgettable write!
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Thanks so much, Sanaa.
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I can visualize this so well, the wraithlike clouds, the wild eyes of the spooked cows. Nicely done!
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Thanks, Stella.
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Please, call me Nosaint.
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OK, sorry! Love the name of your blog!
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Thanks!
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That is weird, how animals can forget the storms of yesterday. I think of them every time the sky boils up a dark horizon and want to be somewhere else.
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Are we better with our superior sensibilities or are they?
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You’ve made the storm so visual. I specially love the wraith like clouds. Fearlessness doesn’t always work. We need to fear for safety sometimes. Lovely contrasting pictures here.
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Thank you, Sumana.
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This painting is gorgeous .. the greens, the roiling sky, the smallness of humanity tucked into all that nature…after the deluge is a wonderful title. Deluge is that magnificent expanse and then we “flatten our soul” and are so glad to be alive after the roar of a deluge of a storm. Nature dwarfs us in so many ways…
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My son is an artist, and a few years ago he did several very large canvases of storms, with the land and buildings in tiny perspective at the bottom of the painting. They really put man/nature into perspective for me, and they remind me of this painting. Thanks for your kind words.
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Reminds me of my kids trying to escape from my control of the shower head, dreadfully wailing, “Mummy! Mummy!”
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The best interpretation yet!! 🙂
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Firstly, this is a beautiful theme for your lovely poetry.
This is a wonderfully crafted poem, full of visual clarity and emotion.
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Escaping notice by the gods is indeed the right thing to do in the middle of a thunderstorm.
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Indeed! Although my first recourse is always to take shelter under a tree — exactly the wrong spot! Thanks for stopping by. Love the artwork on your blog!
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Thank you so much, Misky.
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“a wonderfully crafted poem” indeed. You had me, of course, at /eyes flashed with lightning/–Bjorn is a storm; smile. Strong use of the 44 words–excellent metaphor–post-truama, a false calm ensues.
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Thanks so much for the kudos and the close read, Glenn, not only of the poem but also Bjorn’s great interpretation! 🙂
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“How I flattened my soul against the earth.” Such a good description. Great sensory detail.
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That’s how I’ve often felt in storms. Thanks for reading, Victoria.
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Sarah, you captured very nicely the sense of being out of control of outer circumstances in which we definitely are concerning ‘acts of God.’
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Thanks, Victoria.
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