Tom Lynch

Thunder Season

In the desert the days are usually blue-skyed. But in summer months the monsoon winds curve up from the Gulf of Mexico, rise over the dry mountains, curl into dark clouds, obscure the sun, and pound thunder down the arroyos. Sometimes it rains. Usually it doesn't. When clouds build and rumble, but dissipate without raining, the Tohono O'odham Indians of southern Arizona say "as t-iatogi." That is, "they just lied to us." Every summer afternoon my dog looks worried, her ears pricked, anticipating the first rumble. Even when it doesn't come, thunder defines the rhythms of these days.

night's dark sleep–
thunder
flutters the curtains