ryan norman

"A WARNING"

Everything went dark, the clouds
crowding the sky, stacked
on top of each other, a menacing
crowd jeering from the nosebleeds,

thundering warnings
to leave before a rainout. The storm
came quickly, as it always did, and I
swiped the downpour—my hands
wiper blades set to the highest speed—
trying to clear my vision, as hail
stones pelted my flesh, cracking my
exterior: glass thin, wet
to the bone, eaten by the dark. But

I only ever wanted
to be consumed by you in one flash
flood. Your dry season never left.