Short Fiction
poetry
1 min
I follow rain
Elizabeth Hykes
I gather light bursts, the sudden jigs and jags,
straying fragments that glance off rocks and trees,
and sweep up startle, thunder-plucked from living things.
Clothed in newly washed, ozone-fresh garments,
I stack drift, wind-flung on racing tides.
I say little, prayerful or not.
I sometimes miss grumbled thunder bursts
that will hide in truths and falsehoods, but
I drop those I catch onto green and yellow leaves
as they ride the rushing water that runs its course
in spite of my best efforts to staunch the flow.
When I'm done, I follow along, waiting under
moiling skies to once more ply my trade.
I follow rain was selected for MSUL’s themed call for work about Water, in coordination with the MSU Broad Art Museum’s fall 2023 exhibition, Flint is Family in Three Acts, featuring the photography of Latoya Ruby Frazier.
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