the rain of summer

after the rain of summer in a plastered yellow frock,
vanishing lacquer, a plague of wet snails

after the rain of summer with crumpled blue feet
& the sodden garden pulsating green

after the rain of summer, the mud of fall,
the heavy sucking footfall & the hint of winter

after the rain of summer, the journey churns
in ferocious rivers and creeks

lovers spin like leaves in a funnel
to dark days, after the rains of summer

I sit, my chin on my knees, peer through my wet hair
at the havoc wrought by the rains of summer