A Tornado Touches Down in My Hometown

ALYX CHANDLER

I don’t get closer to knowing
only closer
to the comfort of not knowing
my body like a lost dog
I command Go back
where you came from
or risk memories rearranging
themselves:     my mom a weather woman
my brother a storm chaser
and I’m safe out West while
they make a sauce
that covers a multitude of sins—
cruel and spicy every bone
used
soaked for juice
as the tornado hits the ground
nine miles out         eight miles       seven
then the swearing starts
God bless us all
to hell and back
the stove pot of sky
circling hot
under that wooden spoon
my mom’s hands trembling
I still hear her:
get the dog in the crate
get the oven turned off
get the helmet             get in the damn closet
with your brother
and pray I said pray
don’t look at the sky
heaving
spinning
as sirens yell seminars

my reality like a green screen
cut to black static

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ALYX CHANDLER (she/her) is a writer from the South who received her MFA in poetry at the University of Montana, where she was a Richard Hugo Fellow and taught poetry. In 2025, she won the Three Sisters Award in Poetry with Nelle Literary Journal and attended residencies at Ragdale and Taleamor Park. Her poetry can be found in the Southern Poetry Anthology, North American Review, EPOCH, Greensboro Review, SWWIM, and elsewhere at alyxchandler.com.