Tsunami by Danny Earl Simmons

Tsunami

Tragedies
like this don’t
just happen all
of a sudden. First,
there is this unseen shift;
then a shaking and a splitting
at the core of things. Next, the rush,
fast and hundreds of miles deep. From
the very first wiggle sirens sound evacuations.
Sometimes there is a scrambling for higher ground.
Sometimes there is denial, fascination with the odd receding calm,
exploration of new beauty until the holding on for dear life, a few loud words,
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . and
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .being
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .swept
away.

by Danny Earl Simmons, first appeared in Other Rooms.

Editor’s Note: The form of concrete poems often overwhelms the content, but this poem’s careful enjambment and shape perfectly enriches the subject matter.