encircling all of Kansas City
and the web of sprawling suburbs lightning bolts
explode upward from the earth first
leap with ecstasy miles into the sky
though we reverse it in our minds
light boils from cloud to cloud it seems
looking for the spot that most longs for it
a roiling search akin to our thoughts that
seek to unite us with the objects of our desire

the pendulum nears its apex in the ripening night
the thunder rolling in is a song of the past
a crashing afterthought but full of insight
in the vacuum left by sizzling plasma
the air rushing in a sudden gasp
into the rent atmosphere where chaos
ripped into our attention drawing us nearer
to the longest day and height of our power

©John Greenleaf-Maple 6/20/17