In the Midst of Absence

I think I can do this crazy thing whereby I schedule this post to appear while D and I are bouncing around in a little car in Colorado, admiring a wholly different landscape. But I wrote this on Thursday...so enjoy!

I am content with the storm
resetting the pressure gauges
in my strange upright sinuses
(o how my evolution
has not caught up to me)

I announce to the sleeping house
that sunrise will be delayed
because of clouds

Because it is spring
and because it is raining
the puddles gather gurgling
quietly to each other
that they look a little, you know,
jaundiced this morning.
And their neighborly pique
spills over and runs down
past the sleeping raccoons
who pulled their tiny bear bodies
higher in the storm drain system
as dawn and thunder neared

water spilling out
still pastel, but larger now
no time for ladies’ teas, dusty
and rusted jetting strong
into the stream in its concrete bed
swelling, rearranging the rocks,
reshuffling the crayfish beds
the eggs and nests of insects

over coffee, in my mind,
the ducks have taken to the modest cover
of the trees in the park
and I watch the stream ramble on
past the disappointment of children
holding red playground balls
and their young mothers
in pastel bathrobes held closed at the yoke
look over them and search
for something that will content them

Far away, the river rises imperceptibly
Lightning moves like a drunk's anger
thunder rolls away like regret
rain spatters the page, scatters the ink
and every end takes me to another beginning