HOW RUMORS START

A breath in the wind
curls into swirl, blows
a wad of newspaper
down an empty street.
Maybe a smuggled
secret crosses a border
and lifts up to a mountain
top where it hovers hawk-
like, waits and watches
the human specks below
moving and moving
till it finds the exact
right mouth to plant
it in, and then opens it, 
tornado.

Francine Witte is the author of eleven books of poetry and flash fiction. Her flash fiction collection Radio Water was published by Roadside Press in January 2024. Her poetry collection is forthcoming from Cervena Barva Press. She is flash fiction editor of Flash Boulevard and South Florida Poetry Journal. Visit her website at francinewitte.com