When the rain comes

15 February 2015

We march ourselves to the edges of the sidewalks,

like tiny automatons without the autonomy

given to non-scrap metal items--

(men, I guess--)

wishing to be wheeled;

wishing we wouldn't have to

wet our shoes in the

shallow puddles between the concrete and the blacktop

Curb

your dog,

Curb your enthusiasm,

"Be mindful of the gap between the train and the platform" but

please don't mind the gap between the curb and the

crosswalk.

I've noticed while skinny-dipping just how

difficult it is to clap underwater, and how easy it is

to lift people ordinarily heavy on earth.

The impact of the water cushions the potential

impact of the cement when we jump in knees-first,

and the cement cradles our feet before the

potential overflow can 

drown our lungs.

Unless you are a child or inordinately small adult.

(In which case we have an understanding, you and I.)

I've never skinny-dipped before but I had a 

lucid dream about it once.

Reviews

[Delmar Cooper]

I 'm too organized to ever be a proper poet ( in this usage for "organized" read: anal, boxed in, strictly linear). This does not mean I can't appreciate the real thing. Such appreciation possibly only on the same level that survivors harbor misty memories of long lost loves or the recently blind recall the color blue.

So my appreciation is really a small thing but small things are real too. Thank you for sharing this, pardon and pity me for only now responding.

[CD Campbell]

I have skinny dipped and you are not missing out. I guess it depends on where you skinny dip and who with. For us men it usually isn't in our best interests because of temperature of the water. As for your work and this particular peice, it is a damn shame it took this long to be able to read it. It is a flower with the petals falling off in a slow cadence. My highest praise to you. CD