“The violent wind. The violent wind. The violent wind “
– Jim Harrison
I pilgrim no more
To the temple of storm,
Where the heart shakes
Like a fist
Against the axis of sky.
Where anger and fate
Turn about each other,
Tornados
Of a dual-faced god.
I no longer seek
Old or new testament
Of my losses,
Or to tabernacle
My wounds.
Make no mistake,
I am as capable of rage,
As capable of murder
As you,
And no more forgiving.
We walk through life’s tempest
Unsheltered,
Our garments
Soaked with rain.
qbit 
“Tornados
Of a dual-faced god.”
This is a violent, volatile poem. Good work!
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Thanks!!!
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Yay are welcome. Pull out the stops!
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You’re welcome!
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Dang! This is good. The violence of the words are stronger than the wind. Temple of storm – well, every line, just draws me up short with the power. And the weakness of the feel in the final stanza that is universally human – unsheltered / garments soaked with rain.
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Thanks, as always. This was a tough one, feels like it risks being over the top. I wish I had more time. Trying to keep this up every day us going to be a struggle!
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I like the risks – that’s the part of the Harrison words that appeal to me. There is a rawness and you have grab hold of it.
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Yes. He throws down hard, and we have to find that first ourselves. These are great prompts. I hope you do something like this with your students!!
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Ha! My students think I’m arbitrary: Summarize this in exactly 17 words. “Why 17?” I just laugh manically 🙂
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