A poem from 1992

[marydell]

Twister

I've learned at last to notice sirens.
We always had tornadoes,
but the sirens only sounded
during pointless weekly tests
which never had the sound of fear.
When danger came, we always knew,
the crackling breathy silence
would be our only warning.
Then we knew to be afraid
of the cold and warm air meeting;
knew to hide
in the basement
under chairs or ping-pong tables
waiting to be lifted,
twisted, impossibly away.

This time all we hear is sirens
scream above the television
drown the thunder out
us in houses run for basements
and wonder about you
high up in your high building
where your open hallway shakes;
Cover your head when you feel
the windows blow across you,
your life in shards before your eyes.
Blown about, twisted, the breath
torn from your chest
the insane wind caresses you
spins and clutches at you
carries you away.

Us who hid with better luck
can wander now, survey the carnage
marvel at the greeny sky
the limbless trees, the mud
or lie alone in basements
clutching breathless at cold floors
looking up through ghosts of houses,
of chairs and ping-pong tables
lifted up, stolen
impossibly away.

---------------------

My dear friend Susan Clements and her boyfriend Steven Molen died on April 23, 1992, in Bloomington, Indiana. They were shot by her ex-boyfriend in the hallway of her dorm. (The tribute I wrote last year is linked below) Susan and I grew up together in northern Indiana and ended up being classmates in graduate school. I still think about her all the time, particularly in the spring.

Remembering Susan Clements

Comments

[fledgist.livejournal.com]

That is a horrible memory to associate with the day. You have my sympathies, Mary.

[readinggeek451]

My condolences. My sister lived across the hallway from Susan. She was at the library at the time of the shooting.

[marydell.livejournal.com]

Hi reading geek...maybe I know your sister, feel free to email me (mary@canary3d.com) if you want to share her name. I was in Bloomington from 1986 thru 1993, so I met a lot of people.

I was at the movies watching Thunderheart at the time of the shooting...I heard about it on the news on the way home, but didn't find out who it was until morning.

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

My condolences, Mary.

[marydell.livejournal.com]

Thanks, Fragano & Serge...I've mostly come to accept it, over the years, but every year I would google her name and I never really found much, because it happened pre-web. I figured that other people would be doing the same, particularly last year after the Virginia Tech shootings, so I decided I'd start writing some things about her and posting my older writing about the event, so that google would turn something up other than just 2-line description of what happened in "bloomingpedia."

Susan Clements

[(Anonymous)]

My sister (user readinggeek451) told me about your reminiscence from last year and now. She sent me your picture from around 1992, and I think I remember your face. We probably crossed paths occasionally. I knew Susan because we were on the same floor in the dorm. It was very hard for me, particularly at first. I'm sure that a lot of other people like us remember that with much sadness. The only "bright spot" for me was that I was not at the dorm, but at the library, at the time of the shooting. Incidentally I googled the time of the shooting earlier this year and found a couple of articles from the Bloomington area paper about it.

Brand new user: Jeanne

Re: Susan Clements

[marydell.livejournal.com]

Hi Jeanne - thanks for posting. I replied to your email :)