{"id":2041,"date":"2019-06-24T08:02:33","date_gmt":"2019-06-24T15:02:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/?p=2041"},"modified":"2019-09-02T08:14:00","modified_gmt":"2019-09-02T15:14:00","slug":"when-it-rains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/?p=2041","title":{"rendered":"When it Rains"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
Peasant carts before the puddle (detail)\u00c2\u00a0by\u00c2\u00a0<\/em>Alfred von Wierusz-Kowalsk (1849 to 1915)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Paige Smith<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\n1\u00c2\u00a0
when it rains
    it pours
when it rains
    we hide
    inside
water unwinds
    our space-time
water drips\u00c2\u00a0
    down the bark
and buildings
    streams
from the gutter
    forms puddles
on the sidewalk, in parking lots
on country paths, in backyards
we lock the doors, keep the kids in
pray for the sun <\/font><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
\n
2
hands appear
    from those puddles
heave themselves
    from the rim of those
little innocent lakes
    onto sturdy land
up climb those heavy
    beasts
from elsewhere
    smelling of
ancient agony
    dripping in decay
heavy-footed,\u00c2\u00a0
    slither-hairy
their insatiable weapons
    scraping our streets
the places we reserve
    for the sick
the places in front of\u00c2\u00a0
    our mailboxes
the places where
    children draw in chalk
in these stolen drenched days
they walk amongst us, sniffing for meat
shaking off their radiation
in the showers of this world

3
and from the puddles
    we glance
their netherworld
    green-glowing
    alien aurora borealis
vomit-colored sky
    over stricken slums
where surely
    some apocalypse\u00c2\u00a0
has already occurred
    surely their rains
descend in acid-flavor
    and they see
in their streets
the greenery, the lushness,\u00c2\u00a0
mysterious portals where we
fat-covered folk, so juicy, live
they decide
to step through.

4
sometimes they seize
someone\u00c2\u00a0
    a prisoner
    a dinner
shoving them
    into gutterless space
someone
    makes no splash
    they tumble down
    into the horrored space
    across what we know as space

5
we were blessed
    by drought
for a long time
    until
invariable and threatening
    the clouds
rolled in
faster than the future
    and opened\u00c2\u00a0
themselves up
    like jaws
eager to feed
    the dry earth
eager to feed
    us to the beasts

6
in the vast
    cracked\u00c2\u00a0
asphalt sea
    the grocery store
parking lot
    my wife
had no chance
    snatched before
she could reach
    the handle of the door
pulled down
    by the non-faces
and digitless hands
   from the nightmare planet
the hands of hell.

7
the rain
now down
to a drizzle,
the worst\u00c2\u00a0
passed,
the formless\u00c2\u00a0
aliens
retreating\u00c2\u00a0
to their disturbing corner
of the universe
perhaps
our brutal future
perhaps
our savage past
I walk
down my secure\u00c2\u00a0
street
the neighbors
dare not look
through their windows
I bring myself
to the park
so dug-up
by dogs,
find a me-size hole
fearful puddle
I peer into
that improbable\u00c2\u00a0
mirror
dust-stormed
hazardous\u00c2\u00a0
wasteland
their world
might have been
like ours, once
might have been
friendly, green.

Some of them
might be merciful
still.

Only one way
to know.
I step into\u00c2\u00a0
the rain
water which is not wet
I step into\u00c2\u00a0
the doorway
and disappear
from this earth.<\/font><\/pre>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Paige Smith 1\u00c2\u00a0when it rains it pourswhen it rains we hide insidewater unwinds our space-timewater drips\u00c2\u00a0 down the barkand buildings streamsfrom the gutter forms puddleson the sidewalk, in parking lotson country paths, in backyardswe lock the doors, keep the kids inpray for the sun 2hands appear from those puddlesheave themselves from the rim of thoselittle […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2041","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poem"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2041","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2041"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2041\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2050,"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2041\/revisions\/2050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}