Yesterday's Typhoon

[dedalus]

Nothing …

means nothing compared to the rain

as it comes slashing through like artillery,

as it comes bending and breaking trees and bushes,

invading unclosed doors, hopping, hopping angrily.

 

Is this, like, serious?

 

Jumping into the car, dodging falling branches,

I feel the wheels getting lifted off the road.

God, how I love a good typhoon! You think

how the hell people manage to die until it suddenly,

O Christ, nearly happens to you. A gust of wind

hurls the car across the road into the track of a truck

which bleats and moans and avoids by inches.

Sancta Maria! That was a close one.

 

Maybe try to go home?

Home, when you get there, is battened down.

Storm shields come out like the Second World War

and every window and door is sealed. We know

that a lot of people die in typhoons. I used to think

that was bad luck, getting caught in the open, but what

the hell can you do when your house gets blown away?

 

Pray.

Dig.

Die.

Wave a British Passport :

(don’t laugh, these idiots BELIEVE!)

[Tinker]

Hi Brendan, Whew! Glad you made it home.... This was exciting to read and I loved the touch of humor to break the tension at the end. I've never experienced a typhoon but our winter storms can be pretty severe and I can relate to driving home with trees falling down onto the road, loosing traction or flooded spots that one must decide can I make it through or not... and even when you make it through you have no brakes unless you pumped them all the way through . .. scary. You captured it all.

 

~~Tink

[Frank E Gibbard]

I checked on the typhoon named Roke, a name shared with a hamlet in South Oxon funnily enough that never endured more than a breeze I dare say. A thing to witness I'm sure as you depict graphically Bren.

[dedalus]

Well, I had a few difficult moments shall we say. Largely because I behaved like an idiot and hopped in the car. My Japanese friends have been mocking me ever since ... for being alive, I believe. I dare say they would have enjoyed my funeral. They'll bloody well have to wait.

[David W. Parsley]

I love the end, comes right out of nowhere. Glad you were able to make everybody "wait"! (And no enduring sorrows to swim.)

 

- Dave

[tonyv]

Yes, this strikes a chord. I often wonder how it is that people die in certain natural disasters. I mean, I understand a tornado or a tsunami, but a hurricane or a blizzard?

 

... Is this, like, serious?

 

... God, how I love a good typhoon! You think

how the hell people manage to die until it suddenly,

O Christ, nearly happens to you. A gust of wind

hurls the car across the road into the track of a truck

which bleats and moans and avoids by inches.

Sancta Maria! That was a close one.

 

Maybe try to go home?

Home, when you get there, is battened down.

Storm shields come out like the Second World War

and every window and door is sealed. We know

that a lot of people die in typhoons. I used to think

that was bad luck, getting caught in the open, but what

the hell can you do when your house gets blown away?

We just had a hurricane. (Actually it was downgraded to a tropical storm.) My power didn't go out during the storm, but it went out for twenty-eight hours, a few days later, while the power company made repairs to the lines elsewhere. It wasn't enjoyable (hot, no electronics, etc.), but I couldn't imagine dying unless, of course, it stayed out and never came back! :)) Anyway, there was lots of destruction (trees and utility poles on houses and cars), and other people around lost power from a couple of days up to a week.

 

Tony

[eclipse]

an intriguing and interesting poem