POEM: Rain

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The quotation that begins this poem comes from the “Excerpts From Oliver Charming’s Diary” section of Jack Spicer’s “Unvert Manifesto.” I read that line and couldn’t stop thinking about it.

Rain
(for Jack Spicer)

“there is a morning when it rains
in the corner of everybody’s bedroom”
Jack said, eyebrow raised

I never knew whether he was joking
or whether his little exclamations
were more like Buddhist koans

rhetorical devices that were intended
to get the brain juices flowing
opening the mind for something or other

“better give me that umbrella, then”
I answered, raising my own eyebrow
trying to fight fire with fire

but Jack wasn’t amused
he just turned away in disgust
and opened his well-thumbed journal

I felt like a fool, a novice
I rose to go,
witless and small

“don’t leave,” Jack said, “listen”
he put a finger to his lips
I held my breath, concentrating

and there it was, in the corner
of Jack’s room
drip, drip, drip, drip