Read a Poem
Flash Flood
by Laura Kennelly
When you marry you wear
a ring and they never
tell you how strong
feeling can be.
Creek beds parch, unused
ninety-nine years,
but on that hundredth
we know why
they exist.
It doesn’t rain much at first,
just a mist.
Then suddenly, in
an hour:
enough to sweep you
downstream, holding on
to nothing but air,
tumbling
while you wonder
if the ring
if the banks
will hold.
It’s been that way
forever,
but no one remembers
to tell.
“Flash Flood” by Laura Kennelly, from A Certain Attitude: Poems by Seven Texas Women. Pecan Grove Press, 1995. Used by permission of the author.
Laura Kennelly’s first collection of poetry appeared in
The Passage of Mrs. Jung (Norton Coker Press, 1990). An Ohio resident since 1996, she’s written essays and reviews for
Cool Cleveland,
Northern Ohio Live, and
Scene. Other publications include poems in
Studies in Contemporary Satire,
A Measured Response: Poems on the Viet Nam and Persian Gulf War,
Pegasus,
Giants Play Well in the Drizzle,
Concho River Review,
Exquisite Corpse,
Dog River Review,
Pangloss Papers,
RE: Arts and Letters,
New Mexico Humanities Review,
Australian Journal of Communication,
San Jose Studies, and elsewhere. Her
Twitter and
Instagram handles are @larakennelly and her blog is at
www.artstillmatters.com.
Write a Poem
Write a poem about the job, career, or profession of your current or ideal partner. How do/would you figure into their work?