Monday, April 13, 2015

Day 13-Church Bells-NaPoWriMo with Magaly Guerrero 2015



Church Bells

The church bells rang. 
Hymns were sung.
Brightly, colored Easter eggs
had been gathered
into baskets large and small.
Hams, brown sugared
and studded with cloves,
had been served up 
to adult filled dining tables.
Kids fed in the kitchen.
When plates were gone,
the dominoes appeared.
The floor was littered
with toy soldiers and doll houses.
Upright pianos tinkled notes
of "When Irish Eyes are Smiling",
or words sung from a new hymn,
"The Old Rugged Cross".
It was just about time
to make a sandwich
with the leftover meat
and Grandma's prize
winning rye bread,
when eight demons  
captured the wind and plowed
a path through the land
forty miles long, half a mile wide.
Not caring whether they swept
away Methodist or Baptist,
black or white,
young or old,
the tornadoes took
their lives and homes.
Friends, relatives, strangers died
while the tails of the devils 
dipped and rose over the town
leaving fear and destruction behind.
The water rose,
the temperatures descended.
The church bells were silent.


Our prompt for today is to write a poem from a 1913 headline. This is the 1913 storm of tornadoes that tore through Omaha, Nebraska. Follow the link for more information:http://www.rarenewspapers.com/view/568353

If you would like to read more poems from this prompt, hop over here:http://magalyguerrero.com/poetizing-the-news-of-1913/

Want to join in the merriment and such, then head over here:http://magalyguerrero.com/poetizing-the-news-of-1913/

12 comments:

  1. This is outstanding, Sharon. You set the mood for something beautiful, relaxing, full of love, happy children, old souls, beautiful things... and then catastrophe! I was not expecting it, so it hit me hard--the same probably happened to them. I enjoyed how you didn't only poetized the news, but you also spoke of the people, of their beliefs and of how Nature's rage doesn't discriminate.

    Wonderful, indeed!

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    1. Thank you! I enjoyed doing the research on the songs popular then. And, I guess dominoes was getting to be very popular. WW 1 soldiers carried boxed sets into deployment.

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  2. Replies
    1. I grew up in Tornado Alley. That is exactly like it is. Scary weather! Thanks for the comment!

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  3. Oh how chilling your words are. I didn't know about this event, wasn't expecting the destruction of such a pleasant scene. Superbly written XXX

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    1. I spent a lot of youthful nights in a storm cellar in the panhandle of Texas. I hated the when the grown-ups said it was coming up a cloud. One tornado lifted up the corner on the roof of our house, but left all the big elm trees surrounding totally untouched. It is such a weird weather phenomenon. Thanks for feeling the chill, Gina!

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  4. Wow - started off like a Normal Rockwell painting, ended like a nightmare. You really are getting more and more adept with your poetry Sharon!

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    1. Thanks, Rommy! The rust is slowly getting scraped off. Having to do this everyday, with different prompts is really just the oil my creaky old pen needed. That, and all the great support from this super group! Thanks for checking in!

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  5. Wow - started off like a Normal Rockwell painting, ended like a nightmare. You really are getting more and more adept with your poetry Sharon!

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  6. Wow. This was stunning. Easter destroyed. :-o Good write.

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  7. Thank you, Elena! So sad that is was true.

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  8. I didn't know anything about this. Very sad!

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