Tuesday, August 14, 2012

East Wind, Rain


The wind came from the east
that day, and rain

rain like pellets fired
from an air rifle, hard, stinging
my face, little wet shrapnel,
wrapping me in a swaddling
of rain, a cocoon of stones
showered with thunder above
and below

a killing rain, with its smell
of metal, and lightning

bleeding rain, sweat, bloody
sweat tears, and rain
neon rain edged in silver
and gold, falling and rising
like prayers

For the month of August, TweetSpeak Poetry has a rain project – a found poem theme of rain that uses book spines as the prompt. (See “August Rain: The Decisive Moment” by Seth Haines, published Mondat at TweetSpeak Poetry, for more details.)

The poem above is taken from the titles of the following books: East Wind, Rain by J. Richard Nash; Killing Rain by Barry Eisler; Neon Rain by James Lee Burke; Thunder and Rain by Charles Martin; The Scent of Rain and Lightning by Nancy Pickard; Prayers for Rain by Dennis Lehane; Rain of Gold by Victor Villasenor; Wrapped in Rain by Charles Martin; and Night of Rain and Stars by Maeve Binchy.

This poem is also submitted for Open Link Night at dVerse Poets. The links will be live at 2 p.m. Central time today.

Photograph: Rain by Jiri Hodan via Public Domain Pictures. Used with permission.

8 comments:

Maureen said...

You remind us of those other meanings of rain.

Your list of titles shows what a draw that word is, how we make a metaphor of something usually thought of as life-giving.

Enjoyed reading this!

Martha Jane Orlando said...

I could certainly feel the stinging of the rain, and absolutely loved your ending.
Beautiful!

Brian Miller said...

wow now that is some kinda rain...i much rather the gentle allowing the earth and myself to soak in it a bit...felt your sting though...

Anonymous said...

Wow, so interesting - I could really feel it - hard to believe from book titles. k.

Anonymous said...

i could feel the rain too. a very original and stirring poem. thank you for sharing~

Anonymous said...

this was an interesting blend of soft and hard, gentle and stinging. I felt like I was in a hail storm. The form is interesting. I didn't realize it while I was reading, you wove the sources well.

Anonymous said...

it's a four letter word around here until after the grapes are in.

Anonymous said...

We had a thunderstorm last night; your poem very much reminds me of the power of it all. I like!