Paternal Storm 

Jessica Bargstadt 

Fourteen 

I show my friend a film

The sky turns green 

We are commanded 

under the stairs

The TV goes off

the sirens come on 

The house is ripped open

A tornado enters uninvited 

Door unhinged

It moans my name 

carried on the back of Jack 

It throws a chair at my mother

I apologize

My friend plugs my ears

acknowledges that we are both

Storm watchers 

Jessica Bargstadt has been raised in small town Nebraska for 23 years and got her two Bachelors in Neuroscience and Psychology from the University of Nebraska-Omaha in May of 2018. As a lifelong writer she has recently decided to change her education focus to Creative Writing and is now pursuing her Master of Fine Arts degree at the same institution.