A Flogging Rain

We carry small talk above our heads, ceilings drip clouds. Nothing is put away. Coats dangle over chairs in layers. Drugged by spate and mizzle, denim droops, snagged over rummage and the outstretched arms of impedimenta. The house awakes to a soft toed patter. Around us, cuffs pull the roof closer to damp collars, hangers weep in wardrobes, while the unhung sink in muddy shallows. Before the light paddles away, calico, cotton, and shirttails are rescued, bundled into higher heaps; the soggy separated from the merely mildewed. The muddled and fusty raised above an imagined tide. Tomorrow, front steps will be scoured; the washed-out made to flap. Squirrels may walk the earth again, and if a blotting wind returns, we will wave from dry bathtubs.