Saturday, May 10, 2008

The Leaky Roof



First, this just in: A new installment of "Squiggles and Giggles" has been posted ... with a freshness day of Monday, May 12 ... but it should retain its freshness for a few days after that ... if you're too rushed to pay a visit now.
And if you do visit, I'd recommend that you go by way of the link in the lefthand column of "Chosen Words" ... you see, S&G has a "new address" ... just new enough ... with just a teeny change in it ... enough to make life complicated.
So, please try that link ... and let me know what you think. (Say, could that be the beginning of another poem?)
Meanwhile, we've had more than our share of rain recently in this part of Ohio ... with just a touch of rough weather thrown in ... makes the heart grow fonder of sunny days ... you know, those events which have something to do with that strange glowing object in the sky.
This morning is starting off with fog ... most of my mornings seem to start that way, even when the sun is shining brightly ... so it was no surprise when ...
I woke up ... late, thirsty ... thinking foggily of clouds, rain, roofs, leaky roofs ... and this poem came to mind:

THE LEAKY ROOF
We knew just where

to put pots and pans

when the rain came
suddenly weeping

through our roof,
its pit, pat, pit-pat

lullaby lingering
long after the storm

had droned off into
distant, grumbling

thunder, leaving
a morning residue

of splatters
and puddles,

blankets on a line,
featherbed sprawled

like a newborn calf
broadside of the sun.

© 2001

(received an honorable mention award in Ohio Poetry Day competition; subsequently published in my first collection, Chance of Rain ... Finishing Line Press, 2003)

***


Today's word: grumbling
Afterthoughts ... in response to your comments:
Thank you, Southernmush, for stopping by again ... and pausing to exchange a few thoughts. First, I'm sorry you're feeling sad ... but I hope you found some comfort in the poem ... especially the ending which, I think, offers the promise of something better ... "like a newborn calf/ broadside of the sun." I think moments of sadness are, as you indicate, like rain ... but then I think ahead to what follows ... the sunshine which always comes ... the flowers which answer the sunshine ... and I hope you will soon find that sunshine which follows the rain. Here's to happier days for you, Southernmush ... and soon.    

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I can see it now!  This poem describes well...in poetic fashion...a scene I've seen before.  We had the buckets and pans  placed, stratigically to catch the drops, at the farm house...many, many years later, in CA, in a very exclusive area and expensive house, I also had to place them around my son's bed.  I thought, at the time, thinking of the farm house,  that if I had any sense of humor at all, it would be funny.  In, CA, during the rainy season, you can't repair around the chimney where the leak started until you know you'll have a few weeks of dry weather.  The farm house was a poor, but pleasant house and the CA one was a rich and pleasant one, but both had what your poem, so aptly described.  Your poems are always a porthole that takes the reader to a place, clearly seen in his or her mind's eye.  

Anonymous said...

Hello Mr. Brimm,

I am so glad you shared this poem. With the way that I feel today this is a perfect poem. I hate to say it but I am feeling sad today because someone let me know that they don't like certain parts of me so I am changing a bit for the person and it makes me sad. I just don't feel like myself these days. It has NOT rained here yet but like the rain in your poem...I too feel like weeping

Thanks again for sharing this. Take care