Sheltering Places

for Norma Fitzgerald

It’s been pelting down
all night the kind
of rain that drenches
to the bone

and a dirtstorm
in the carpark.
The hot wind carries
thunder making the girls

scream and old men
count the seconds,
improvising distance
as you shout to

turn the lights out
pull down the blinds
so that lightning can’t
get in and frazzle us up

in the curtain-dark room
the rumbles near and
shattering flashes
make everything go numb.

The storm is reaching
home territory, stretching
over the hills down
into our sheltering places.

© Gerald Dawe, Sheltering Places, 1978, complete text, Sheltering Places, 1978 & 2008, The Starling Press.

Gerald Dawe’s description of an approaching thunder storm perhaps resonates with a horror of approaching violence and distant explosions.