Rainy Day

Yesterday
Started out with a mist in the air
Sky the color of the squirrels
that scamper in my backyard
pausing to eat a seed or collect an acorn.

Yesterday
turned to a drizzle,
drip, drip, drip
on the surface of the pond.
Ripplings slowing forming
as the orange fish navigated their roadway.

Yesterday
turned to a dourpour
and then loud kabooms
Sky creased by bolts of lighting
as the alarm awoke my phone
sending a warning of flashflooding.

Yesterday
as I looked at the night sky
throught the kitchen window
toward the streetlight
a sleet of rain appeared
pouring buckets and buckets,
saturating Mrs. D’s flowerbed.

Yesterday
it felt as if
a rainforest
is my new habitat.

-Sally
Arlington, VA
August, 2021

Summer Rainstorm

A constant grinding sound came from my basement. The sump pump. For the last hour it churned non-stop as rain poured down outside. Every few minutes, a loud boom was heard. Then I glimpse a bright light of lightning. If my grandma was still here, she’d say, “It’s the angels. They’re bowling.” As I looked through my kitchen window, instead of gentle drops falling, it appeared to be a wall of water surrounding my entire front yard. Maybe instead, it was Wash Day and a miles-long, clear sheet was hanging down from the angels’ clothesline in heaven.

Some scientist, I’m sure, can explain exactly what causes some storms to be filled with the lovely, soft pitter-pat of raindrops and others to be so violent, like this storm. For now, I’m blaming it on Wash Day at the Hotel Hilton in Heaven.

Time to throw those sheets into the warm dryer.