the breath of nor'easters

double glass windows

stained with years of salt

trapped between panes

no amount of scrubbing

can save

.

know the tide table

look out the window

check the flooding

move the car

hours before

the waters will rise

this is not strange—

this is just an ordinary October.

.

nights growing long

made longer still

by wind gasping

gusts screaming

when the heart of the storm

grows restless

.

but this is just October

and I close my eyes

enjoying the sound of the house creaking

imagining the water in the streets

and feeling so paradoxically

perfectly safe.