Nailing the Stillness Before a Storm

Spent the afternoon on the river trying to name what it is about the half-hour before thunder that makes the water feel like it's holding its breath. Not the calm—something tauter, like the whole streambed is bracing. I wrote it down longhand for the first time, just a few lines about the way the swallows stop their banking and the light goes flat. Doesn't quite capture it, but it's the closest I've come.