Ruth Gooley’s most recent poem to appear here was “Lessons Emily Post Never Taught You” (May 2018).
Rain Song
By Ruth Gooley
Fresh as a splash of water,
a melody springs from a bush
about the level of my chest,
at the corner of Wilshire and Le Conte,
blocks out the bass of a bus,
the clang of a Harley—
blasts out notes,
rants of lung, heart, chest,
strong as a storm, light as dew,
right as rain.
I breathe in the air,
the lilt of a little tongue and beak,
look for the singer in the fringe of leaves,
do not see her,
though her voice pursues me,
that creature, the rain over,
eager for the worm and the sun.