—Washington, NC
A quick stop at Food Lion for beer & whole wheat buns,
then Hog Heaven for pints of barbecue, baked beans,
& slaw. Idling in the take-out lane, I’m taken
by gangrenous clouds closing fast from the east.
In Beaufort County, storms are upon us in minutes; roiling
cells shear through the skillet-flat fields of tobacco & cotton.
In lightning’s flicker, the family plots of farmers appear
visited by God. They startle me like you do, dear, like
cumulonimbus on the horizon. Come gather after; slip
your hand into my pocket & kiss my sunburned neck.
Recite with me again the capricious
nature of our Carolina weather.