- Small Rain
Small Rain
Morning tea black as an eye. Dark taste runs through me like a snake. Like an intestine.
What else in the birdsong besides the birdsong? They think they’ve found evidence for
the particle that brings mass to everything. On the radio another scientist says there’s always
the possibility this will make us all disappear in a microsecond. Light rain today, cool breeze
moving through the house. There are carpenter bees in the eaves which will cost us something.
There’s a window frame rotting that needs repair. Another celebrity couple is breaking up.
The black dog goes into the tiger lilies in the backyard and takes a dump. There are some things I don’t have to [End Page 162]
clean up for anyone other than myself. Teacup in which I stare back at myself. The sound of fans inside the house
like the sound of rain falling constantly when in fact there’s so little rain coming down. [End Page 163]
Jeff Oaks’s newest chapbook, Mistakes with Strangers (Seven Kitchens P), is forthcoming. He has published poems most recently in Rhino, Field, and Bloom. His poem “Saint Wrench” was selected for Best New Poets 2012 by Matthew Dickman.