Under the subtropical sun
Over the Gulf of Mexico
Great masses of warm, humid air
Congregate.
Pressures across the earth then
Push Gulf air northward
Up the Mississippi and Missouri Valleys,
An invading air force sent to colonize
The Land of the Cold and Dry.
But this day
Ahead
In the Land of Cold and Dry
Awaits
The gaping maw of a cyclone
Intent on becoming a storm
By devouring the hot, humid vapours,
As a great blue whale
Envelopes a school of krill.
A feeding frenzy.
Air boils in exploding clouds everywhere,
The cyclone
Tightens its spin
Drawing ever more humid air into its core,
Pushing it high into the sky
To suck the warm air dry
And achieve its goal.
At last,
A storm,
Mature,
Raging and wailing gales
Swirl around an ever tightening belly.
Even now, with its belly filled,
The storm continues to feed,
Throwing waste water forward
As torrential rains;
Discarding the remaining
Into the Arctic cold behind.
Flash-frozen
In the frigid air
Needle-like snow and ice,
Whirling white waste,
Whipped by gale winds,
Become a boiling, gaseous sea.
Matured the storm
Now covering half a continent
Under its frenzied, furious
Rumbling, raucous
Wicked, wailing
Surging, savage
Grip.