Seven Small Poems About Rain

Most of these got written in a notebook that had already been rained on, which felt about right. A few are from this spring, a couple are older. If you like short poems about ordinary hours, I also put together Haiku for the Night Shift a while back.

1. Forecast

The weatherman said forty percent.

My mother heard a hundred

and brought in the sheets anyway,

and the chairs,

and the cat,

who did not want to come in

and said so.

2. Bus Stop

Four strangers under one small roof,

shoulders almost touching,

all of us staring at our phones

like the rain is something

happening to other people.

3. Tin

On my grandfather's shed roof

rain sounded like somebody

counting coins very fast

and never quite

getting to the end.

4. Puddle

A kid in yellow boots

looks at the puddle,

looks at his father,

looks at the puddle.

His father looks up at the sky

for a long time,

on purpose.

5. Windshield

Wipers on low,

the radio stuck on a station

neither of us likes,

and we don't change it,

because changing it

means one of us

has to talk first.

6. August

The farmer down the road

has checked the sky so many times

his neck hurts.

He tells me this

like it's a joke.

It isn't.

7. After

Then it stops.

Everything drips for a while,

like the whole street

is thinking it over.

A bird tries one note.

Then another.

Then the neighbor's lawnmower,

of course.

More short poems and stories from all kinds of writers are over on Vocal Media. And if a rainy afternoon needs something longer, The Lighthouse Keeper's Last Letter is a good place to start.