Lines for a summer thunderstorm

Distant thunder.
A common wood satyr
clings to the screen.

*

A close lightning strike
& a second later, raindrops,
the bleating of a fawn.

*

Through sheets of rain
at the edge of the meadow,
the dim outline of a doe.

*

Rain presses
on the horizontal leaves:
a random fluttering.

*

As I watch the storm,
a fly with quivering wings
explores my pants leg.

*

The lightning past,
the fawn stands on its hind legs
& bats at a low branch.

*

Towhee
Towhee
Towhee
Towhee
Towhee
Towhee
all through the downpour.

*

Their one day ends
in prostration —
orange daylilies.

*

The sky brightens,
but the storm’s darkness lingers
in rain-soaked leaves.

8 Replies to “Lines for a summer thunderstorm”

  1. orange daylilies, rain-soaked leaves. lovely. i’ve been wanting to write something about rain lately. you’ve given me a lot of inspiration with this.

  2. I second leslee’s comment on the nice arc of the storm through the poem. I really like the way everything is grounded in actual natural observations — my favorite kind of poem.

  3. I wish I could write poems like this. I am not like this. I do not have your quiet intensity. Bummer for me.

    About the 45 tweets ~ I was clearly engaged in heady discourses with my fellow tweeters, namely tinydoctor and beth. You can’t blame me for playing on the playground, can you?

    I love this part of your poem the mostest: Their one day ends / in prostration – / orange daylilies.

  4. lissa – Glad to hear something I wrote lit a fire in someone else. That’s what it’s all about, isn’t it?

    throwshiswords – Glad you liked. Reality is the ultimate writing prompt, I guess. Thanks for stopping by.

    Dana – A bummer, eh? I tend to think of these things in terms of trade-offs. If I had your gift for embroidery, I might not work so hard at staying simple.

    I definitely don’t mind your facility for twittering, and only wish I’d browbeaten you into microblogging sooner.

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