THE DEVIL DOESN'T COME TO THE FLATLANDS
Tornadoes are a Midwest delicacy. As a child, I used to think
the devil sent them here to taunt us. To whisper in our ears that
he can find us in the flatlands too. Hurricanes are not his only trick.
But we tried so hard to believe we were safe here. We land-locked
ourselves and took a rolling pin to all the dangerous lumps in the
earth, until the world was bare and vacant for miles. There is a kind of
safety in making ourselves desolate. My mother told me all girls must
remember this. Iron out all of your prominence–men won’t hurt
you if you give them nothing to want. After all, she’d say, the devil
doesn’t come to the flatlands. There is nothing to steal from
an empty house.
ABOUT THE POET
Julie DeBoer is a poet and psychotherapist living in Seattle, WA. Her work
is forthcoming in Bracken Magazine.
ABOUT SUGAR HOUSE REVIEW
We loved reading the work that we’ve published (clearly), and we want an
opportunity to better hear our contributors. We're featuring audio recordings of
poems from our pages, read by the poet. This an open invitation to all contributors
from any of our issues, we were delighted to print your work, now we’re eager to
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