Spine Zigzags, Fragile Skin, Forgotten Growth

lightning flashes suffocating thoughts

thunder forces a headache

trees snap and surround my spine

I can't stay dry

as category five winds propel the rain

in horizontals and zigzags

snow drifts through the still silent air

my perceptions collect

I dig through subzero mounds

I rebuild memories with my own two hands

but my hands must be covered

so the frost doesn’t devour them

and I wear ear muffs

to keep the memories from rolling out into the open

a sheet of ice forms fractals of brittle ideas linger

several years after I have shoved them

into the bottomless recesses of my mind

I slip on the slicker ones unable to escape

some hang above me just out of reach like icicles on a roof

tomorrow one may plummet and pierce my fragile eyelid skin

melting and leaving no trace

on rainy days mental pictures trickle down

and wash away after a few minutes

allowing them to be forgotten

some collect into puddles

each droplet splashing between my eyelids

despite all this the sun will rise

cruel thoughts will dehydrate

flowers will spring

rainbows will bend

precipitation permits growth