We have a thunderously powerful poem up next with Gothic by Maureen Jivani -
Gothic
We were chasing lovebirds when the hail arrived
in violet clouds that burst and scattered their icy
bullets over us. Back home with fever we watched
through blurred windows as Old World vultures tore
up the sky like unanswered prayers. For immediate
safety we hid under the stairs with perfect dolls inside
perfect homes in perfect form while at the end of its leash
our house raged and staggered on the edge of a cliff;
its foundations rocked; its walls cracked, its doors
remembered the axe. And split. Its rafters shivered
and shook, its roof thundered and wept until the whole
brickwork shrieked and finally whimpered tearing
itself into crumbling halves. Vultures and lovebirds
descended like fallen angels on the brokered tiles.