In the Distance,

by Stasha Cole

grief, like Oklahoma storms

arrives when it wants you

wants too sudden

cause shifts in the wind and whine

drops drizzle or / pour

out your heart on the gingham

cloth and I wear her sweaters now

but my sister got her rain slick

turquoise as the turtle necklace

I was sure would bring the elk back

to that same field we (she and she and he

and I) drove past

all those years ago

on our way there, like clockwork,

in the Walmart parking lot, a downpour

oil slicks and grackles

double rainbows in the park

it will come, suddenly, again

for nature does as she wills, but

between “passing” and “thunderhead”

only one sounds potent enough