Look for a new post of Sunday Brunch every month on the first Sunday. This column features Tripod Poems, poetic micro essays inspired by three randomly chosen words. These words become the title of the piece, are contained within the piece and are developed into observations on life in the Southwest and beyond.
Capricho – Influgo – Remedio
Whim – Influence – Remedy
Capricho
Yesterday, the wind
went on an extended bender.
A derecho with gale force gusts
up to 100 mph, slapped against
everything like an angry, old drunk.
Whacking tree branches, buffeting
fiercely against the house, hissing
even through closed windows.
It sent the resin lawn chairs sailing
across the backyard like soccer balls
to an unknown goal, in its unleashed
capricho of epic proportions.
On the roof, the metal grates
of the evaporative cooler
squealed like mad banshees.
All afternoon, the derecho raged,|
kicking up loose desert dust
until a low brown fog obscured
the mountains that loom closely
over this Tularosa Basin town.
An early robin sequestered
under a quivering oleander,
occasionally spreading her wings
to test the air, then quickly
retracting her flight feathers,
scurrying further back
under the protective foliage.
Influgo
Everything felt
the disturbing influence
of the turbulent,
incessant wind.
I was safely tucked away
inside the sturdy structure
of my own nesting place.
Watching the massive limbs
of an Afghan pine flail
as I gazed through the window,
I sat sewing curtains
to distract myself
from my animal nervousness,
yet, the turmoil
entered my soul.
Remedio
We were all waiting
for the remedy of sunset,
when the extreme
temperature differential
would cease,
and eventually
the dust would settle,
so that we could gaze up
and see the mountain peaks,
the reassurance of landmarks,
and of twinkling stars.
Photo credit: Stock
