a flood doesn’t come
from the sky alone
it starts as white fungus
bubbling from a stump
a snail out at noon
grazing on lemon-scented horsebalm
and red efts wandering the moss
like dragons errant
the ground is saturated
it oozes fluid wherever i step
and the creek is high
and slurs its words
but a flood doesn’t come
from the earth alone
it starts as a shimmer of mizzle
a slow blur of rain
the farther hills vanish
the closer hills disguise themselves as clouds
when night falls we can drift off
on the white noise of rain
if the flood doesn’t come here
if the storm changes course
in the united states of amnesia
any disaster lasts just 20 minutes
i pull my hat down
and hurry home
OTHER POSTS IN THE SERIES
- A Week of Kindness
- Herbaceous
- Crushed
- Breast Man
- Manic Pixie Dream Consultant
- Lord of Misrule
- Lilium martagon
- Cat Person
- Escape Artist
- Provincial
- Black site
- Love Machine
- Lionheart
- The Song of the Womb
- Fallen Woman
- Postmortem
- Floating World (Ukiyo)
- Insomniac’s Revenge
- Travel Anxiety
- What Does the Shadow Know?
- Exile
- Desecration
- Bubbly
- The Comeback Kid
- Outside-in
- Sequestered
- White Lady
- Invested
- Mater
- Blow
- Submission
- Biofeedback
- Public Servant
- Executive
- Specialist
- Officialdom
- Prayer Warriors
- Bitter End
- Riparian
- Cabaret
- Accommodation
- Treedom
- Livid
- Flood Watch
- Iemanja
- Imprisoned
- Downward Mobility
- Sirenity
- Somniloquy
- Master Debaters
- Helene