THE THUNDERSTORM

Found this poem the other day which I wrote about ten years ago and had totally forgotten about. Hope you enjoy it.

the thunderstorm

Trapped in my car
I watch the hard pellets of rain
machine gun into the windscreen
Shrapnel of spray
bounces back
into the darkness beyond

I recall the film 'The Birds'
and imagine each raindrop
as a
blackbird's piercing beak gouging
deep holes
into the re-enforced metal of the roof
Despite the claustraphobic heat
I shiver

I dare not move
The world beyond has shrunk into
a black unknown

I am only sure of what I see within:
my own sharp knees and rigid hands
and
the wide-eyed stare which stares back
from
the small mirror
used
in calmer times
for make-up

I am late
he will be gone
This is the only thing now of which I'm certain