standing in the wind

listening to them yell

“there is no wind”

on street sides

and lawn signs

even torchlights ​in front of city hall

but still, I hear it

“there is no wind”

skin is chafed by it

watering eyes blinded

it tears at fabric

battering flags

wearing holes

I hold my head in my hands

confounded by their words

they deny the deafening roar

that the wind is howling

all around us

By Jeni Alden St. Laurent

Nashua