1. I Am Struck by Lightning

2. The shaft of my old umbrella

3. becomes a
sudden
lightning rod.

4. My retinas flash yellow,

5. and my
spine
sparks
like
God's
electric
cord,

6. charging the stack
of ceramic spools,

7. blasting the back
of my skull.

8. I drop my books,
the flaming umbrella spins away,

9. and like a
chimney
missing
bricks,

10. smoking and haloed with pale flame,

11. I shudder, start to stagger, lurch

12. and finally tumble in
the ditch,

13. where my blackening skin boils
the muddy water into steam.

14. Muscle pulls against tight
muscle,

15. screwing
eyes,
tighter,

16. grinding teeth to splinters.

17. I'm an
inferno
now,

18. a writhing
seizure of
fire.

19. The dull roar doesn't mask the crack
and pop of stinking cartilage,

20. nor are the faces of the gawking
passers-by veiled by heat mirage.

21. I see them.
They see me,

22. a fallen angel,

23. sin thrown down
from heaven.

24. I Am Struck by Lightning
Images licensed via Creative Commons.
• ra64
• John L. Conn
• Fanch
• Steven Meyer-Rassow
• Bart Cayusa
• Richard Masoner
• Jason Fraser
• Thomas Hawk
• Ali Nishan
• Curious Expeditions
• Carlos
• DCE
• • Joe Flintham
Jon Truran
• Joshua Rappeneker
• Yours Truly
• Sascha
• Karl-Ludwig Poggemann
• punk27fay
• julkastro
• PacoCT
• Steve Wall
• Paul Kalkbrenner
Poem by Bart Everson, 1988