this weeks get your poem on #38 at read write poem is “smell”. It was supposed to be a collaborative, but i wrote on my own.
After months of 100 degree plus temperatures and no rain, the weather gods are promising Edouard for us today. I hoped to capture my excitement and anticipation of those first moments of relief after a long drought.
Waiting to Exhale
too long has the sun risen and set
with no cloud to hide it
scorching rays burn day after day
blasting with it’s furnace heat
as i stand and watch
the old earth inhales deep into her chest
waiting, breath poised
for what has come at last
thunder rolls long and low
announcing the approach from a distance
anticipation rattles deep in her bones
in my bones, as we both wait to exhale
sudden wind blows tortured trees
dead leaves murdered by the heat
racing across a parched landscape
stinging dust blinding us
anticipation mounts as the sky
slowly begins to darken
as Sol gives up her mighty throne
fire flashes from above
as the first fat wet jewels fall
the earth opens her arms wide
she exhales her pent up breathe
sulfurous and acrid
scorched cracked earth
dead grasses, burnt leaves
long awaited exhale
a musty and pungent choking cloak
as the rain falls faster
the earth inhales again sucking
into herself the glorious relief
filling her up and rushing by in hurried rivulets
mourning those that didn’t survive
watching those that did fill with life
breathing deep now, her exhale washed sweet
by cooling healing rain
Empty Garden 