Fallen deciduous trees,
destroying Earth’s creations
roots torn from trembling ground
like veins cut from the skin of the world
Wind screams like sirens in the dark
windows breaking, rain taking over
rooftops flying like broken wings
and water crawling where streets once lay
The sky weeps in floods
clouds bruise with the thunder’s fists
Then it stops but it isn’t dark
its bright outside, hot, humid
but why is it not dark and cloudy
it feels heavy,
like the storm left something behind
I see roof tiles along the streets,
shattered glass in sidewalks,
the tree in our backyard split and crashed
right into our neighbor’s fence
We walked over after it ended,
picked up branches, dragged them to the curb,
said sorry, even though it wasn’t our fault
Helped him fix the fence,
painted over the broken parts
Writing this poem gave me inspiration to talk about what I went through during Hurricane Beryl. When writing, I tend to always bring up something in my life. I can either relate to the topic or give a message in my writing. I used literary devices such as personification, metaphors, and similes to show the storm as something almost alive, with “winds screams like sirens” and “clouds bruise,” to express fear. My writing process began by visualizing the storm again like how the trees fell and how the sky sounded, and from that I shaped those memories into vivid imagery.