Far out to sea
in fitful moonlight
an island
uncharted
uninhabited
insignificant
a spit of sand
a bit of coral
with one palm tree
the quintessential
cartoon metaphor
for an island.
But it's ringed in a
bioluminescence
whose dinoflagellate
authors sense
something's afoot.
On the horizon
is a blip of a storm
unnoticed
unrecorded
undetected
by radar
but bunched
and bristling
potent and
eruptive.
An anvil cloud hovers
a ground charge builds
the sea foam fizzes
palm fronds stand on end
all Warhol-Bride of Frankenstein.
The flashbang comes
with blinding release
fireflakes abound
the micro-organisms think
it's Independence Day.
“300,000,000 Volts” was printed in Harvest Time, No. 5 of Inwood Indiana. Pick up the paperback from Prolific Press; the stories and poems published online are free to read here.
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