Lament for June

COLIN CUMMINGS

May 28, 2020

There are thunderstorms to look

Forward to and even tornadoes

Promise a bit of excitement, although

I could live without the hail. My daughter

Says if she had three wishes they would

Be that the sickness would go

Away, that the llamas would help

The sickness go away, and that the electricity

Would go out during a storm. She hopes for

Calamity with such reckless bright honesty

That I find myself hoping the lights go out

Too. I picture the gathering clouds bruising

The bright June sunlight and hear rumbling

In the distance as if the thunder were train

Cars colliding on the tracks. The wind

Turns and cools and you smell the threat

Of the storm, a massive and lumbering

Promise of rain, of the chance of destruction, of

The loss of power. In my mind we gather

In the basement, the noises above a stampede

But we’re safe. We wonder at what comes next.

We ask who else wants to make a wish.

COLIN CUMMINGS has lived in Amarillo, TX most of his life and studied Political Science and English at the University of North Texas in Denton. He works in the restaurant and construction industries and has a passion for projects and events that bring people together.