Between The Covers - Tribute to Rain Literary Magazine
Pull back the covers and experience,
Just how fresh and crisp it is inside,
Discover a poet who once lived among us,
And built community,
Out of encouragement, fun and wondering
Like you, he pondered the mysteries of foreign flagged ships,
That leaked rust out of every orifice.
Listened intently to “The Ship Report” on KMUN Radio
Wondered about the crew stuck on these smoking hulks.
Who are they? Where did they come from and where will they go?
Between the covers, you will also find a poet so shy and self-effacing,
That he always wrote in long hand
And never jumped aboard the electronic train
Yet he wrote year after year,
Because he wanted to share himself with you.
There is always our river and the whole wide watershed.
All the creatures that live in her and in her shadows:
There are Woolly bears and the sun shining on a Jay,
Turning his wings and tail iridescent.
There are salmon, sea lions and pelicans all there between the covers.
Some of the covers are decades old,
But once inside, you are dazzled by the freshness of the voices.
Voices both familiar and strange,
Of people that couldn’t stop writing
Until their work gained the sheen of mastery.
Just as you might expect,
There are love poems of all sorts,
Hiding under the covers
Did you know that the Astoria Megler Bridge
Was once a grand conduit to a waiting heart?
There are many who appear only once,
Yet their work is still intimate and bold,
Deserving a pride of place,
Among the prolific and the stalwart
Because they found courage to claim a space
Poets praise elderberries of all colors
Among light, death, bees, and Rene Descartes
Wicked storms, flora, fauna, requiems, and musings.
But keep their distance from the poet doctor who used razor sharp knives.
Their contributions will be scanned and archived and available just the same.
Rain is hiding in plain sight in the collective bookshelves,
Of our homes and gathering places in all the communities
Of the Lower Columbia Pacific and the North Coast Oregon
Southwest Washington State
To be rediscovered in perpetuity.
Pull back the covers, dive in
And experience the Rain!
Copyright ©
Jennifer Nightingale
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