Sand Auger
Emily Brandt (New York University, US)
.
.
So here we are in lawn chairs
with lemonade and sprinklers,
watching the prairie set out
from itself, and waiting
for the heat on the ground
to rise up in a pillar of dust, a sign.
.
Dust is less
threatening than it seems,
even when it’s spinning –
a turbo-vortex picking up
lawn umbrellas like licorice whips.
.
We’ve both seen the footage:
dozens running unscathed
through dust devils, voices bursting from muted throats!
.
Yet, your fear is palpable
when I tell the cashier
they should make more biscuits if they run out by eleven.
You are kinder than I.
.
I’d like to imagine us, hands holding
and eyes closed in this whirlwind.
.
.
Emily Brandt teaches English and yoga to high school students in Brooklyn, co-edits No, Dear magazine, and is working on her MFA at NYU. Her poems have appeared in Podium, BluePrint Review, The LadyFest Anthology, Drought Street Mural, Fizz, and more, and her photos have appeared in The New York Times and The Jewish Weekly.
