Plow and Prairie Dust

April 1935, Boise City, Oklahoma, after the Black Sunday dust storm.

Lulled calm by the cool of the moon

dust settles into the cracks of your walls

cakes thick the corners of your eyes

while you sleep, sifts

keen into the hollows of your lungs.

Each breath a rasp

you rise before the sun 

lean your cheek against the windowpane

horizon not yet smeared

the yellow-brown of dawn.

Savor this pocket of calm

before the sun heats the ground

stirs the dust awake.

About the poet

Myna Chang is the author of The Potential of Radio and Rain. Her stories and poetry have appeared in more than one hundred venues. Find her at MynaChang.com or on Bluesky @MynaChang.