April in Indiana

Squall clouds romp and rumble east,
flashing memories of the root cellar

located in my grandparent’s back yard.
An underground bunker born out of fright

from Palm Sunday tornadoes in 1965.
I remember the static on our transistor radio:

Petulia Clark’s “Downtown” voice interrupted
by constant bleeps of tornado warnings,

appropriately, “Down in the Boondocks” broke in
as we descended into that damp root cellar,

birthing its own fright: water rushing in ankle deep,
flooding a tunnel that echoed a dank and dark tomb,

us dodging camel crickets that leapt sideways off walls;
overhead, daddy longlegs dropped and dangled,

and brooding thunder thumped the ground,
expelling uneasy gasps into the electric air.

 

 

About the Poet:
Lylanne Musselman is an award winning poet, playwright, and artist, living in Indianapolis, IN. Her work has appeared in Pank, Flying Island, Poetry Breakfast, The New Verse News, Ekphrastic Review, and Rat’s Ass Review, among others, and many anthologies.  In addition, Musselman has twice been a Pushcart Nominee. She is the author of three chapbooks, with a fourth forthcoming, Weathering Under the Cat, from Finishing Line Press. She also co-authored Company of Women: New and Selected Poems (Chatter House Press, 2013).

 

 

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