Walking in the rain
I am going out
in the gentle summer rain
remnants of a storm
to feel the drenched cotton fabric
of this threadbare shirt cling onto me like a sheath
smell the parched earth suck in the season’s first rain
Please come with me
We will paddle about, cautiously though
not to mash too many snails into the grazing lands
watch the muddy waters slide along the footpaths
where the scum of earth hangs temporarily on the grass
to be phased out with time
Yesterday’s swelter
that cooked up this serving in cumulonimbi pots
has been extinguished, savour the coolness
as I indulge myself in the sweet brutality
of the pure rain, breaking a taboo
sogging my dreadlocks in a wash that’s true
through and through
but if a stray bolt of lightning strikes
and the ensuing thunder vibrates under my feet
I will stand petrified, vulnerable as a wounded calf
with a pounding heart, I will mouth an uncensored prayer
I need someone then to stand right by me.
Would you feel used, if that someone was you?
Pulses drown saturated elvers
As a crescent delivers it's catch
White bellied roaches slap and disperse
Pierced and broken suckers latch
Flushed forearms lock with a match
Bleached fingers curl fiercely
Cartilage and rods attach
Each standard raised taking a liberty
Vectors detonate a verse
Chassis release their clutch
Barbels gulp at a netted hearse
Miniscule painted boulders scratch
Humble timber bows with a screech
Discordant sea gulls sing their liturgy
Their hymns bellowed to receive a batch
A veneration
Before performing their red tipped ritual snickersee
The unbaptised draw a curse
Glossed umber in a ditch
The razorback plows a course
To encumber every stitch
A gullet evacuates an itchy apology
A heretic mutters a retorting blasphemy
Fulminations boom and detach
As cumulonimbi reload their artillery
Skulls stoop in sunless pitch
Anointed mantras convene for mercy
Receptacles are laden and rich
Weighted and blessed by her divinity
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