Summer Storm by Patty Tacuri

summer storm starts to brew, a flash of lightning here and there

we both startle and jump

but it's not the summer storm causing commotion

it’s us confessing truths we kept hidden for a long time

it’s you starting to lose your love  for me

while I cling onto you desperately

the summer storm brewed as our inevitable as we crashed 

and you delivered an electronic pink slip 4 days later

that inspired more than 100 poems

summer storm starts to brew, a flash of lightning here and there

except it’s so strong, the power goes off at work 

as I text my crush even though I should be saving my battery

but this is the first real conversation we’re having 

and he’s well worth it and it gets eerie real quick

customers leave the store, the manager panics

my coworker sings a gospel hymn while I take it all in

and text my crush everything that’s happening

he tells me to write a poem about it

and a year later, this is what I come up with

except it turns out to be about the worst storm of my life

and the rainbow that happened two years later

Patty Tacuri resides in Athens, GA. She has a blog called Life on the BPD, where she talks about various topics ranging from relationships to mental health to politics.She writes poetry to process the intense emotions that come with having mental illness. It is reflective of the experiences she’s had being a working-class Latinx first-generation millennial woman with mental health issues.In her free time, she spends time with her friends and kids, writes poetry, short stories, and essays. She also likes to go to open mic and perform her poetry.