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Sonnet That Ends With the Speaker on the Toilet

I need to feel safe but our dirt basement
is an inadequate storm shelter if
a tornado hits, jars of pickled beets
from years ago collect dust on the mud
shelves. Each time a red warning flashes on
the TV, I end up in the bathroom.
From the other side of the door, my mom
and sisters tease me saying, it sounds like
a train’s coming. Or, that funnel cloud’s too
close to the ground. I cry because I might
die with my pants down and no one tells me
it’s okay, it’s going to be okay.
Instead, someone jimmies open the door,
snaps my picture while I’m on the toilet.

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Kelly Lorraine Andrews' poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Ninth Letter, PANK, and Prick of the Spindle, among others. She is the author of four chapbooks, most recently "The Fear Archives" (Two of Cups Press, 2017) and "My Body Is a Poem I Can't Stop Writing" (Porkbelly Press 2017). She received her MFA in poetry from the University of Pittsburgh, and she coedits the online journal Pretty Owl Poetry. Additional information about her publications, along with a slideshow of her cats, can be found at kellyandrewspoetry.com.