A farm family’s stormy middle child
An out of season tornado
Ready to rain blows
On anything in his path.
His parents
Hoping to channel his
Menacing energy
Bought a third-hand tricycle
Dented, chipped, and bent.
Spinning furiously
Vibrating with resolve
Terry blustered
Over Hardpan roads.
His brother
A would-be tricycle thief
Suffered the dust devil’s fury
Caught in his turbulent eye.
A government photographer
Assigned to capture families
Became a storm chaser.
Stilled by his father’s calloused hands
Then released for a shutter click
His mother’s overcast eye
Knew her son’s fleeting calm
Belied unstable pressure
Threatening a lifetime of
stormy bluster.