Mother Nature's Rage a Haibun for Mindful...

Las Vegas, New Mexico. On a small ranch, owned by my Dad; Pete was the foreman. It had been raining hard for three days in the upper mountains. I went to sleep that night on the screened-in porch but was awoken early by Betty, Pete’s wife, yelling, “Richard! Get up, Pete needs your help! There was a twenty-foot wall of water came down the canyon last night.” The devastation was extensive; bridge washed away, fences down, huge boulders in the field and a horse watering tank wrapped around a tree, twenty feet up. We worked for a week cleaning up the ranch.

Funeral was Friday

The Preacher and his daughter

The water took them

Comments: 12 ( 1 removed by Richard Lynn Livesay )

A. F. Stewart Apr 25, 2012, 3:15pm UTC

A wonderful poem.

Richard Lynn Livesay Apr 25, 2012, 3:47pm UTC

thank you, AF but I forgot to use Prose poetry in the top part

JOHN BECK Apr 25, 2012, 3:57pm UTC

Still, it's well done.

Richard Lynn Livesay Apr 25, 2012, 9:50pm UTC

Thank you, John

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stephen berwaldt Apr 26, 2012, 1:37am UTC

what a wonderful memorial to a terrible memory... it's hard to imagine that kind of power if you've never seen it...

Thank you submitting to Gathers Luminous Writers and Artists.

Richard Lynn Livesay Apr 26, 2012, 11:03am UTC

I can't believe I slept through the wall of water but it was thundering so much... it came down Sappello creek that was usually about a foot deep and really did some damage. the precher and his daughter got caught in it as their car flooded out crossing a low spot. they got out of the car to go to higher ground about the time the 20 ft. wall of water came down. We had a man-made lake above the house that almost broke out and would have flooded the house where we lived.

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wendy st. john-devereaux Apr 26, 2012, 8:56am UTC

oh my

well-written
tough subject matter

blessings

Richard Lynn Livesay Apr 26, 2012, 11:10am UTC

it happened one summer when i was in the 9th grade outside of las Vegas, NM. Dad had a ranch that I worked on during the summer. These prompts on Mindful Poetry are having me use a different part of my brain and organize my thoughts which is quite a challenge....thanks for reading, Wendy

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Katryn D. Apr 26, 2012, 9:53am UTC

this could actually go for today's NaPoWriMo prompt

Richard Lynn Livesay Apr 26, 2012, 11:14am UTC

thanks,Katryn...don't know if I have the creative energy to think through any more than one prompt at a time...appreciate the thought

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Audrey Howitt Apr 28, 2012, 8:58pm UTC

Great piece!

Richard Lynn Livesay Apr 28, 2012, 9:23pm UTC

hi, Audrey, appreciate the comment

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Mother Nature's Rage a Haibun for Mindful Poetry April 25, 2012

7 people recommend this post

Comments: 12 ( 1 removed by Richard Lynn Livesay )

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