Out of the ocean called peaceful
El Niño rises hot and bratty
bringing rain like Noah’s flood
till the cliffs of California
slide soggy into the sea.
Drought like Deuteronomy
heaven of brass, earth of iron
blows Guatemalan forests
all the way to Rushmore
like Birnam Wood
come up to Dunsinane.
Now the sun’s a glinty nickel
the moon a copper penny
small change in the half-light
of a doomsday sky.
El Niño, Holy Infant, the Second Coming?
Barbara Fryrear 2000
miss you, mom
“Golden Circles”