stormy weather

one my husbands
gave me this, she says,
holding up
her arm
where a bone once broke.
I think it was the third one.
he was mean
when he drank, she says,
I could almost see it coming.
you know.
like a storm
that rises over the plains
far enough away
to run.
but sometimes,
just like lightning
he could strike.
I used to keep bags of frozen
peas in the ice box
to put on my bruises.
I loved him more though
than the others
and i sort of miss him
when the weather's right.