A Patti Payne poem: How the weather illuminates the greatness of this place we call home
Aug 29, 2024, 1:33 PM | Updated: 3:52 pm
People paddle boarding on Lake Union with the Seattle skyline in background. (Photo: Wolfgang Kaehler, Getty Images)
(Photo: Wolfgang Kaehler, Getty Images)
I鈥檝e been thinking about the weather throughout the a whole lot lately, gazing at cloud formations between bouts of drenching rain and lightning, only to be interrupted by blazing bouts of sun. And this poem came to me — in iambic pentameter.
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It鈥檚 hot, it’s cold — the buzz is sparked by weather,
We speculate when we all get together.
The weather folks try each and every way
To let us know how we should plan our day.
The weather diverts us from political blather
As we can think of other things we鈥檇 rather.
The true important issues of the day
Like whether 18 holes is plausible to play.
Should we wear jackets, long pants and galoshes?
Or do we don our favorite shorts, by goshes.
The broadcast weather teams are very popular
But what鈥檚 it mean when they haul out that Doppler?
Those detailed charts they use, my mind they boggle
And skeptics ask, “Is it a big boondoggle?”
From A to Z, atmosphere to zonal flow
They stretch the limits of the things we know.
Sometimes I wish they鈥檇 bring it to my level
A simple explanation, not disheveled.
Like the movie “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs.”
Or just picturing the great Snoqualmie Falls.
Instead of Doppler, dream upon a star.
We all can do that, no matter who we are.
Or pray those stranded astronauts touch ground.
And that they slide to earth all safe and sound.
And what鈥檚 the story on this “climate change?”
Temps so high and low, our lives will rearrange?
The weather teams are studying it as we speak
The summer snows, white-heat in winter鈥檚 peak.
If I were into weather, this I knows
I鈥檇 be in conversation with the crows.
Those brilliant birds give forecasts with a ‘caw!’
Don鈥檛 fool yourself! They also know much maw …
And like the rainbow song, I鈥檇 tell you too
Of skies of red and orange, pink and blue.
Huge thanks to weather folks for all their work
And all the efforts that they never shirk.
My weather skills are poor, for what it’s worth.
But folks, we鈥檙e in the best place on Earth!
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