AFTER THE RAIN

In the gray whisper of sky
brought by the morning birds,
under the orange tree
washed clean,
he asks for what is dearest to me.
I give him what is not mine.

His poems spill forth
beneath the door like light
into this old house.
Books line the walls
like revolutions
waiting to be heard.
All those poets trying to wring
words out of death's hands.

We walk in the field of blue oaks,
spend the afternoon watching
tropical fish.
I have not given permission
to this world
for anything, yet it does
what it wants.

Rain falls
and I try to remove
the years from the walls.
He gazes at the hole in the roof,
saying it is not that which covers
that is important, but that
which lies underneath.
With his hand, he pulls away
the debris, redirects the rain.

He shows me the piece of wood
he has found--500 years old.
He will sand it down,
reveal the curves of time.
His long drive home
stands in silence like a year
between us.

He leaves in the pouring rain.
He calls later and says
he has left something behind.

Rebecca L. Morrison 10-24-04

Rebecca Morrison, AKA ESKIMO PIE GIRL, was born in Arizona a few miles north of the Mexican border, raised in a shack with no running water in a small Alaskan fishing village, educated at a private liberal high school in the Bay Area and graduated summa cum laude from UC Davis with a major in Modern European Literature and History and a minor in Primate Evolution. She has read her poetry and short stories at numerous venues in the Sacramento area, on several radio and television stations, and in Boston, New York City, San Francisco, Seattle and many other cities. The Lummox Press included her in its Little Red Book series (LRB) with the publication of RAINING ALL OVER (LRB 44 -- available direct from the LP for $6).  You may contact the author at eskimopi@jps.net or by visiting www.eskimopie.net