Member-only story
Unexpected Disturbances
Oct 16, 2021
Damn, what the hell?
I shuffle upstream, rod
In hand, just outside the
Rhododendron line, and
Am struck by flying needles
Forearm, ankle and neck.
Effing yellow jackets.
Mother drove poorly
Always fiddling,
Cigarettes or radio.
Until her ‘65
Karmann Ghia vaulted
A 30 foot embankment
On the road cleaving
The sage-shrouded hills
Between Tecate and
Tijuana — DOA
This story is true, not
Artistic license. I
Was orphaned at eighteen,
No sibs, no dad.
And so life is an
Erupting Krakatoa,
A Hurricane Katrina,
An unexpected disturbance,
COVID-19, recession
Cancer, bipolarity
And yellow jackets,
Till the chips are cashed.
Published in Poetry Life And Times October 2021
