Storm

Starting fair
the horizon appears
blue skies
draw the eyes

The haze begins
where sky meets sea
the grey deepens
horizon blurs

Fuelling breeze
calm seas stir
snowy crests arise
crashing shores

Rearing front
rolls near
rumbles purr
harkening ear

Bolts apart
signal doom
charge the air
beacons in the gloom

Wind driven
whipped
rushing forth
darkening brow

Crescendo arising
sound light orchestra
playing to
clamorous choir

Dark glory maw
portents of doom
ravaged waters
pounding shores

Sylvan flotsam
stranded ashore
still breath
fresh dawn.

Mylene Warman is a principal policy adviser with the SA Department for Education in its Early Years & Child Development Division. Married with two tertiary-aged sons, she has lived at Adelaide’s West Beach for the past 30 years, arriving there from Queensland via Darwin. Her extended family is spread across Australia, and times such as Christmas are cherished for reunions and celebration. West Beach, she says, is a suburb that has a village feel and strong sense of community. While normally calm, it can be otherwise, and it is such a changing sea and sky Mylene says that has inspired her poem today.

Readers’ original and unpublished poems of up to 40 lines can be emailed, with postal address, to [email protected]. Submissions should be in the body of the email, not as attachments. A poetry book will be awarded to each accepted contributor.