# July Challenge: THE STORM



## Fin

Click here for the workshop thread


* Chosen by PiP, this month's prompt is "THE STORM"*


You're free to interpret the prompt in any way you wish, though site rules apply. The winner will receive the Laureate award, a free month of FoWF, and will get to choose next month's prompt.

You may have your entry posted in the *workshop thread* if you wish to protect your first rights. Note: If you do so, you must post a link to it here in the main thread or risk being disqualified.

Please send your entry to *Fin* if you wish to enter anonymously. If you would like it to be posted in the workshop section, then say so within the PM.

You have a ten minute grace period to edit your work after posting. Anything after that and it'll be discounted. So make sure it's as finished as it can be before entering.

Do not post comments in this thread. It's for entries only. If you have any questions or comments, please post them in the *Bards' Bistro.*


*This challenge will close on the 15th of July at 6pm EST.*


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## Fats Velvet

_gale in the brainstorm_

I plot faces like squalls on a weather-man's map.
They howl for attention in peripheral vision,
and stymie proof of predictable paths.
The eyes are a storm- never at rest.


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## aj47

*fibonacci lines
**with numeric precision*
*destruction unfurled*

​


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## Gumby

*Distance*

I want no more of cyclones
  with their fierce, driving rains—
  this clash of warm and cold fronts,
  where residual squalls remain 
  and too easily regain
  the full measure of their strength,
  a cyclogenisis of pain.

  I want to be a desert
  formed of smooth, arid sand,
  whose face remains the same.
  Save for the subtle shift, left 
  when warm winds lift, brush 
  and blow away,
  all traces left behind
  by the troubles of each day.

  And from a distance I'll look good,
  like Monet.


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## Pidgeon84

Blizzard of Yesterday 

Here I lay in the snow
Bloodied and beaten
But my shackles gone 
Gone with the wind
The snow blindness of yesterday 
Has left me to ponder
Ponder the blue skies 
Blue skies once painted grey
Judge me no more
Oh Great Accuser  
For the storm has passed
And I here am I
Beaten but victorious
Wipe away the blood and the dirt
I will walk into the enteral forest
To search for truths long hidden


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## toddm

*Ten thousand years ago*

The sun was bright and beautiful
and cast a friendly eye
upon the laden boughs of fruit
new-swelling under sky.

But ice encased the waking moon
arising from its bed
and in the warmth it shook away
bright dewdrops from its head.

They fell as cold and heavy rain
upon the gladsome trees
and drowned them all beneath the flood
of deep and trackless seas.

And now they sway in water-winds
but bear no more their fruit
in darkness miles beneath the waves
where they have taken root.

This happened on the turning earth
ten thousand years ago
and what bright fruit they would have borne
the world will never know.


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## escorial

drama queen
----------------

my life
my mind
my teacup


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## Ariel

*Amazing Grace*

When the storm came rolling across the plains--
the clouds wine-dark, the wind folding the trees,
and the birdsong stopped--in the cinderblock
cellar we cowered listening to radio static
for a sign.  I thought of all you said
before the sirens--"I want to see someone else."
(Angry words and my handprint, red, on your pale cheek).
We sat in sullen silence until, voice trembling, I
sang the only hymn I know.  You joined my song,
words fell from familiar, forbidden lips.
"Amazing Grace" replaced birdsong.  Tears followed
apologies--but not forgiveness.  Quiet
and the storm passed.  We emerged
to find that everything has gone with it.
The house still stands, but it was only ever a house.


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## Ethan

*Kalaeno and I*

Eye and I, in perfect calm, surveyed the wrath without,
as carnage ravaged, once a town, in splinters raged about,
A brief respite for eye and I, knew what would happen next,
as eye grew bored and turned her gaze, swift followed her vortex.
And through that whirling, once a town, I watched her tantrum rage,
furious and fierce she was , Kelaeno took the stage.
Then eye and I, went both our ways , one to deepest keep,
Aello screamed as Okypete caused mortal  I’s to weep.


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## dither

[h=4][/h][h=4]The storm.[/h]




Parched earth is quenched, and the Song Thrush sings.
After the storm.
Lovers make up,  romance mends it's wings.
After the storm.
Fertilisation, regeneration,
stillness and calm, perpetuation.
After the storm.
Life goes on, nature finds a way.
A new day dawns, and it's time to make hay.
After,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

The storm.​


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## Fin

*Anonymous Entry*

Neptune - 


With the thunder of pistons
The dark cloud rolled in
Lightning from the sea
Struck the earth and foretold
The destruction of the storm above

And when the deluge came
It came in torrents
It came in sheets
It came in waves
On canopies of silk
It soared to the ground

And those below tried to avoid the drops
That spewed from those steel clouds
The day it rained men
Over Normandy


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## PiP

*The Storm*

The sun hides behind blackening clouds
as the wind howls in warning.
Thunder growls a distant rumble
while dogs howl in harmony.
Birds silenced,
instinctively sheltering, unseen.

Tumbleweed and trash cans
race down the road.
Trees lean in the wind like drunken men.
Shutters rattle ominously,
restless in their restraints.
Doors slam.
Silence…
The lull before the storm.


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## Pandora

*Dark 'N' Stormy's*

_​_*

“colour of a cloud only a fool or a dead man would sail under” 
*



Our vibrant destination, pink crystal sands, aqua-marine waters,
our breathtaking gem in the sea . . . 


Colorful shuttered homes line hills quaintly  pleasant,
a sweet British accent tells stories of lost treasures. 

Blue Eyed Grass winks yellow with the steady ocean breeze,
frog whistles fill trees, mopeds weave at high speed. 

Cold swim in a cave, pink boulders and coral reef fishes,
we warm up then with Sherry Chowder and Paw Paw dishes.

The Cahow bird sleeps by day, welcome cries come at night,
 330 years gone, nature's hopeful rise back to sight.

So, lighten the night, sweeten the Storm with ginger fizzles.
Add a million stars, our kisses and our love that sizzles.

'My Dear, would you please pour me another?
the memory of this Storm I would gladly sail under.'


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## Mutimir

Storm's Coming


Here we go day by day,
Same story, same old way.
The calm, it'll always touch you,
Deep passion, pulls us through.
But that sound, it will rise,
On the distant horizon, it will cry.
Screams of thunder, sends the shiver,
Shakes the settled heart, feel thequiver.


Storm's marching on, blowing winds ofreality,
Serenity's fleeting and here comes thedeath of fantasy.
Shocked, maybe I thought I wasgratified,
And perhaps I thought you weresatisfied.
Flood waters begin to rise, I feelmyself begin to flail,
Watching our soul drag down, beaten andfrail.
And we both now know it's through,
Storm's marching on, inevitable endcoming true.


Picking up my pieces, with subtlehaste,
I depart, wondering what's not a waste.
While I'll lug my baggage to the curb,
You'll watch it all without a word.
In a moment, the sun kissed my drycheek,
And my chest still beat, always set onrepeat.
I'm released into the wild, feeling atrifle reborn,
Desperately, I wander for the nextstorm.


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