April Poetry: Honey, It’s Raining Something Terrible

In recognition of Poetry Month, and to celebrate our treasure trove of Orcas Island poets, Orcas Issues is pleased and honored to offer daily poetry during April.

HONEY, IT’S RAINING SOMETHING TERRIBLE
by Jill McCabe Johnson

Waiting inside Best Buy for a downpour
of biblical immensity to subside, I phone
not because I miss you, but because I cannot tell you

the look on the face of the policeman
who comes in hatless and soaked,
how he wipes rain from an 8 x 10 frame

before showing it to the store greeter
who shakes his head no.
Nor can I tell you the face in the picture

of the eleven or twelve year old boy, cheeks
round, skin flushed, and eyes whole.
Instead I say how the rain comes down in sheets,

how the pavement roils, and lightning makes
random stabs at us all.
The policeman tries to shield the frame

as he runs to the next store.
After he leaves, I watch how, discomposed,
the greeter tries to ignore

the paper with basic facts and phone number in red,
the way he squeezes his eyes closed,
and how slowly he shakes his head.