Lightning Map
When lightning tumbles to earth
the flash we see is its fanatic kinetic
energy hurling itself back up to the sky.
The strike is the map of an apple tree,
pointing its bone fingers
at that which it loves,
which is how it decides what direction
to grow; each bend in branch,
each channeled ridge.
The way my wrinkling fingers
bend around my family at the kitchen table.
With a bright flash I look up
and marvel at how briefly is lit
all the things I love.
Julie Shulman is a writer and art director living near Boston with her husband and three boys. Her work has been featured in Third Wednesday, SWWIM Every Day, Mass Poetry, and The Avalon Literary Review. She is a merit scholar recipient and MFA candidate at Pacific University.