An outbreak in Kansas

[tectak]

Chazz, I read this quickly and then saw your query. Shaping it is simple once you have your edits down. Using center formating only, you can sculpt your poem thusly:

If you live
in tornado ally, one quickly learns,
storm sirens are not something one should
take lightly,So when the twister touched down in Greensburg,
Bobby and Joan were already hiding in the root cellar.

Childless, beneath the floorboards of their home,
with enough food and water to last them
about a week,they huddled in the damp
dark and consoled each other,
while everything above ground
perished in the wind.

At dawn in the cruel silence
of dead roosters and cattle,
those still alive assembled
to mourn over ruble,
the town an atomized
prairie desperate
for emergency aid.

Nine months later,
a miraculous
boom of
rainbows.

Cheers/Chris

Or:

If
you live in torn
ado ally, one quickl
y learns,storm sir
ens are not something on
e should take lightly,So when the
twister touched down in Greensburg,
Bobby and Joan were already hiding in
the root cellar. Childless, beneath the floorboards of their
home,with enough food and water to last them about a week,they hudd
led in the damp dark and consoled each other, while everything above ground
perished in the wind. At dawn in the cruel silence of dead roosters and cattle,
those still alive assembled
to mourn over ruble,
the town an ato
mized
prai

rie d
esp
er
ate
fo
r
em
ergen
cy aid.
Nine mo
nths later,
a miraculou
s boom of rainbows.

...or any combination thereof to no great advantage.
Best,
tectak

It might be a good idea to draw a picture of a tornado and forget the poem. Maybe draw a rainbow too.

Hey!!!Novel idea! Genre generator! I believe the mot juste is "cool" followed by not.