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Thursday, January 2, 2014

fresh water wash me clean

    "Rain Dance" photo used with permission & with gratitude to the artist, Lynne Raspet.


i don't live 
in a neighborhood 

Ms.
he says      insisting

nothing happens 
on my street   

this thick   city

boy 

uniformed
scrubbed
polished

& sent to school

his black hair      stiffened
stands at attention

his head     is hurting 
(i am sure)
from too much

sitting still

     ~

i lean into
his round face 

willing words 

his imagination
—a phantom—

     ~

how many       of you 
have ever made 

mud pies
between     your toes   

a few hands       rise
—confessing 

actual play 

outside

go home      i say
turn on the hose 

make mud

they giggle

     ~

my toes          flex 
stretch their necks  

i am standing 
knee deep 
in rain water

this sky     wiping its eyes 

dim thunder     rumbling   

we     have all 
come outside 

waving—squawking birds 
converging     on a makeshift lake 

water      running to greet us
we wade in

     ~

a few fat drops
hit     shower us wet

—cold    clothes 
cling        barefoot toes

stomp 
splash

 sing in the street
—rain dance
 —glee club 

goose bumps  

     ~ 

i squat      squish mud 
between my toes 
shovel up a clump 

—oozing earth

fling it 
at the first    (unsuspecting)
one of us

a burst of laughter
—splat—

a flinched face
—splat—

an arched back

i got you  

     ~

we are merciless 
     warriors      taking aim 

duck 
dive 

slip 
slide

run 

from each other 
like we     might really
die

in seconds 
      an hour passes 

      ~  

my breath 
comes fast

i am full 
of fun 
& covered 

in baking clay

     ~

lying down 
on long      green 

grass      in the gutter 
bent           under

this sudden stream

    fresh water 
—wash       me clean

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