“braid of creation”

It was a spring storm and it came at night. Not the daytime summer storms that brought such relief from the oppressive heat that even those afraid of lightning, afraid of thunder approved. This was a storm that began around ten at night, when heads were heading towards pillows or already sound asleep. A storm that began with thunder, built with lightning, crescendoed with rain, and brought the kind of wind that slammed doors and woke the heaviest sleepers. Up all night anyway with the excitement of feedback, the energy of a room full of people, the thrill of clapping, she heard the puppy whine and was up, heard the puppy whine and was up, heard the puppy whine but felt sure it was a false alarm, heard the puppy whine and cleaned up pee. The braid of creation became the unbraiding of her plans, her needs postponed yet another day, until the 3:30 am waking became an inability to fall back to sleep, the need within her driving her to get up, get up, get up.

5 Minute Stretch Exercises are a creation of Laura Munson and were learned at Haven Writing Retreats. This prompt was taken from The Wild Braid by Stanley Kunitz.