“Microburst” by Maura Way

Microburst

I remember 1989:

in June a tree fell

& another   I

won an essay

contest but couldn't

get to my own reward.

One winner from every

state (and me) got an

all-expense-paid trip

to Washington, DC.

The hotel was in 

Virginia. All the trees

stayed up over there.

I don't think they

believed that I couldn't

get to the metro station

because the power was

out and cars were all

smashed up in my

neighborhood. I'm glad the

winner from Hawaii got

there. I don't think they

invited Puerto Rico.

I guess I was lucky

they included me.

My essay was about the

importance of sovereignty

for the Baltic States. Turns out

I was not the national winner.

Featured Art: “San Miniato” by Chris Vaughan

Originally from Washington, DC, Maura Way lives in North Carolina, by way of Boise, Idaho. Way’s poems have recently appeared in Hotel Amerika, Poet Lore, and Folio. Way is the author of ANOTHER BUNGALOW (Press 53, 2017). Way has been a schoolteacher for over twenty years, most recently at New Garden Friends School.

Chris Vaughan is a writer and artist from Whitstable, currently living a short jog from "The End of Europe" in the South District of Gibraltar. His work has previously appeared in Ambit, The Lifted Brow, Philosophy Now, Epiphany Magazine, The Rumpus, Bright Lights Film Journal, Bookslut and The Warwick Review.