deluge – a poem by d. ellis phelps

deluge

 
 
i stop
& nod

to the cement-truck
driver……crossing

the farm to market
road…….—huge tumbler

…..rolling

I think…….about
ingredients:

shells
shale

limestone

too much
or
too little

causes

—disintegration

how many roads
we’ve travelled

~
 
the day…….you
announced:

i’ve joined the army
 
how i thought
this………might

harden……you

how it did:

pills for rage
pills for sleep
pills for pain

~
 
too much

………for years

you wouldn’t
look up

your back
to every wall

~
 
have you…..ever
 
prayed
 
for rain
for a job
 
for a soul
 
      ~
 
today…….you call

full
overflow

of the old…….you
the one…….i knew

mama
 
i want
 to tell you
 
i have     
so many
ideas
 
      ~
 
I think…….about
intersections:

of faith
of mistakes

how i
came to
call you

my son

by making one

~
 
I think…….about

the time…….you
& i………prayed

…….for our lives

—perpendicular
…..roads

in front of
the cement plant

that day
the tornado

turned up
trucks

only yards
from us

~

how we shook
how the deluge

(almost) overtook

how we bow

to a god
neither of us

understands

 

 
d. ellis phelps’ poetry, art, and essays appear most recently or are forthcoming online and in print in The Enchantment of the Ordinary; Texas Poetry Calendar 2019; Poets & Dreamers:  Dreamers and Displaced Issue; & Voices de La Luna.  She is the author of Making Room for George, a novel and of the blog formidableWoman.  She is co-founder and animating director of the poets for peace, San Antonio reading series. recently serving as managing editor for the inaugural anthology of that group, The Larger Geometry:  poems for peace (peaceCenter Books, 2018).