when sunshine filtered through rolling gray
to give raindrops their color. Now
1
cameras are useless brushes, should some sudden need occur
, forever missing pixels, looking past contrast, losing focus;
paint (oil, acrylic, maybe watercolor?) too cannot capture our
climate’s spectral shades, frameless moments, shifting facts;
language isn’t any better, not very, but if you’ll pardon
contractions and count them anyhow (allow poetic cheats,
permit imperfections), my pen is drawn. I’m ready. I’ll try.
2
subtitle: 1,000 imperfect words; thesis: an impossible sudoku.
opening paragraph, initial sentencing: possessive noun,
adjectives, subjective action verb, adverbs, et cetera... already
elliptical critics would criticize, deconstruct, misconstrue &
decompose what I’ve proposed / begun composing:
meanwhile, earth’s atmosphere weeps / continues weeping;
another imitative artist cries, his ink unerasably flowing.
3
precipitation’s plain dull pallette shivers endlessly, above
below around: today we wait, anticipating better fronts, left
listening for conclusive punctuation, getting only ellipses,
gradual premonitions hinting what’s coming: distant booms
first telegraphed in whiplashed flashes; later followed by
smells, electricity’s ominous odor, dampened dust, stirred up
dirt, awakened earth; finally touch, feel: rainfall taking over.
4
rain: cold colorless falling wet hard relentless dominating,
weather offputting, setting aside coatless hatless daylight
hours, nature’s nowcast, never mind forecast, upsetting social
structures, cancelling performances played, attended,
offering lightning’s unsubscribed sizzle instead, deceptively
dry; thunder, decidedly loud exclamations without explana-
tion; patter, splatter, drizzle, less music than noise then pour.
5
suddenly walking ruins shoes, driving turns weary chore, it’s
all souls/machines can do keeping rubber feet/wheels moving
simply getting home, housed, parked, finding anywhere dry,
accepting anything, settling, seeking temporary cover like
poor tired refugees, huddled under square box umbrellas
with fogged windows, streaked panes: our world’s eyes,
distorted from unwanted tears, saltlessly wondering why
6
yet, everpresent, effervescent reason shows itself now, hinted
within renegade rays of subtlest sunlight revealing rain-
water’s constant beauty: sparkling, living, even as it falls:
you will see green grass again, these angels say, speaking,
singing hard working droplets they: we’ll roll those heavy
clouds away, restore your great forgiven sky, clean slated,
blue, more breathable, renewed. holy, fresh, clear water!
7
cleansing, cleaning, washing, rinsing. (repeating,
remembering how mother/daughter, taught, still teaches me)
necessary, yes, she says this was, shall always be,
evermore her favorite time, season, place: praying amen,
hearing “heavenagain,” feeling particulate waves,
letting herself become immobilized, moved, emotional,
willingly becoming elementary, simplified, soothed.
8
reflection...premise...perception...truth, fundamentally faith
alone explains God’s nature; thus, man’s (woman’s, child’s)
ritual immersion, each gender, age, every creed’s splash
therapy, aqua conscience, awakening, rejuvenation; believe:
reincarnation, return, rebirth, baptism; sprinkling; accept:
drowning, spiritual surrender inwards, outwards, upwards:
replacement...promise...permission...life, sacramentally.
9
indent. empty space. leftover poetry, endless stories,
Yahweh (simple self pronoun, present tense being)
variations. free association. blank verse. filler. everything
matters, articles, prepositions, objects, conjunctions,
interjections, river bed metaphors, parched desert similes...
consciousness streams, trickles, floods, sates, holds. final
judgment awaits. stillwater, someday. we’re halfway there.
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