This week, inspired by a new song from The National's lead singer, Matt Berninger, 'Ask For Water,' I went in search of water themed poems in my poetry vault. I wasn't exactly sure what I would find, not a deluge, but I was curious.
Here is some of what I found...
My Dad Was a Rain-man
I stood beside my dad one summer afternoon
Under the eaves of the back veranda
As indigo clouds
Blotted out the summer sky
And threw our world into warm shadows
Dad broke the silence
Can you smell the rain?
-It’s only minutes away
So we waited
Staring skyward
Listening to low rumbling of distant thunder
As lightning scratched the sky
And the clouds sprung leaks
Soon large, heavy droplets
Slapped the ground
Before a downpour drenched the day
Stripping dust from the air around us
Making everything fireproof
He knew rain my Dad
He could read the sky
I saw him do it once.
Alan j Wright
Time Beside the Sassafras Creek
Occasionally
I stand still
Beside the muddy bank of the creek
Listening to the talking water,
White crested and sparkling
As it tumbles over rounded rocks.
Fish slowly reveal themselves
In the shallows
Swimming in silent circles
Resisting the current
Motionless for a time
Suspended in the flow
As if under a spell.
Suddenly
They are gone
In fish flashes
Under logs and fallen branches
Sheltering shyly.
The show is over
The light diffuses
Like powder in water.
I move away
My viewing over
For now.

That first poem, that lovely memory of your dad, is wonderful, Alan!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Laura. That first poem is based on an enduring memory, so it pleases me immensely to think someone whose opinion I value, appreciates it.
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