a Southern Oregon storm

squalid
howling
great bare trees
tossing and tossing

ice-cold raindrops
pattering
on windshields
and tired wiper-blades,
on fire-hydrants,
on loose dogs,
on cracked roads
in cracked neighborhoods
where the government pays
for much of the heating,
and the people vote for conservatives
as their pastor advises them
after melodic traditional hymns

ice-cold rain drops
pattering on pine trees
on sage-brush hills,
on plywood in pick-up trucks
and work gloves
and baseball caps
and red ears

squalid
howling
great bare trees
tossing and tossing

"It's a good day to stay inside,"
says my hardy dad
with a bag of my groceries in hand
and a smiling grimace on his face,
headed out for more errands