Mountain Weather Advisory (Poem)

the world displays itself in starkness, a noir landscape

sky that luminous gray, the inhale before a storm

trees more cadaverous than ever, suited to ravens and crows

pavement black with remnants of rain, foretaste of what will come

wind rises suddenly, shattering the calm into a frenzied beauty

road cracks that imperfectly echo spindled branches disappear

rushed to gone by bulleted rain sent from louring clouds

stickled limbs themselves whip about in such agitation that birds depart

and a shudder of sound moves up and down the ridge

then as if by the wave of some unseen magical hand

this stills and becomes an ordinary winter morning