Typewriter Rodeo: Texas Floods

Each week, the Standard reaches out to Austin’s Typewriter Rodeo for a custom poem on Texas topics.

By Laura RiceJune 3, 2016 9:02 am,

The recent storms plaguing Texas have caused the rivers to rise in more than one county. People across the state are losing their homes to flooding rivers and torrential rains. This harsh weather is what led Typewriter Rodeo’s David Fruchter to write this week’s poem.

 

Texas Flood (for Stevie)

here’s the thing,

about when the flood comes:

there’s nothing

just nothing

you can do about it

it’s already too late.

you’ll first discover

which corner of your house

is at the lowest elevation

that’s where the water will come in first

as you watch

trying to remember

when you’ve ever felt so helpless

maybe there were things

you could have done, in advance

laid in sandbags

dug trenches

maybe we all could have driven less

bought less plastic

but now

the water is coming in

right into the house

and all you can do

now

is get wet