The Rain Is Silent Until It Meets the Tent
Again, attention is there,
and there again.
With each drop’s patter
on the rainfly
attention is there,
and there again
something grows,
a flower’s unflappable
unfolding from a bit
of soil wedged in a chink
of a van-sized block
of billion-year-old schist
sitting a long unwearied
sitting reflected in the waters
of the rising creek
the tent is pitched besides.
Up canyon a pair of owls call.
Again, attention is there,
and there again.
Michael G. Smith, Bozeman, MT, is a chemist. His poetry has been published in many literary journals. His books include No Small Things and Flip Flop, a collection of haiku co-written with Miriam Sagan. His poem Disturbance Theory. Glacier was selected to be photographed and displayed in Antarctica in early 2021 by the Antarctic Poetry Exhibition https://www.antarcticpoetry.com/. He does volunteer work at the local food bank, and at a school and orphanage in Kathmandu, Nepal.
See more of his work in 9.2 and 9.2