Required Time

Sometimes the most devastating of disasters can come upon you in the shortest amount of time. Our hearts go out to all those in Toowoomba, where a town became a floodplain in almost an instant.

Time required to quit your marriage:

A whole year and a day

of separation;

legislated.

 

Time required to quit a season:

A trio of months,

nothing more.

 

Time required to quit a month:

About four weeks,

give or take;

28, or 30, or 31 days.

 

Time required to quit your job:

Just two weeks notice,

the usual requirement.

 

Time required to turn a mountain town

to devastation:

Float a car down a river-

a river that a minute ago,

a moment ago,

was a road.

Author's Note

Australia's most north-eastern state, Queensland, is being inundated with flooding. Earlier this week, Toowoomba, a town situated high on the Dividing Ranges, in the basin of an extinct volcano, was devastated by flash flooding when 150mm of rain fell in 30 minutes. This piece is not to mock, but to call attention to the devastating speed with which flash flooding can and does occur.


All polite/relevant reviews are welcome - including constructive critique, grammar and spelling corrections. And thank you for reading/leaving a review!

Reviews

[TheFemininePad]

I can't imagine what that must be like to experience. I spent some time in Forks, WA where they get the most rain in the entire United States. I must say that the ground there quickly soaks up the rain where flash flooding doesn't become a serious danger. This piece is a good tribute to the people who experienced this situation.

[ice]

Excellent poetry, Penulis
I don't understand why, or how poems like this aren't reviewd more often..A timely topic, and so well written ?
Congratulations on your ribbon, won in the "Water, Water..." contest, this poem deserves that honor..The moderator is a very good poet, she knows how to read...and I know her comments and choice of this poem as a winner is not to be taken lightly.
Peace
ice

[Poeticadia]

A thought-provoking and well-crafted poem. I really liked this one and the way it closes in on the moment of devastation.