Night Weather: Fall Rains, Week 3

Cynthia Reeves, "Autumn," 1971

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A few years ago, I published a book of micro-poems and short poems, Night Weather, illustrated by Katie Nordt LaRosa. (The book is still available directly from me at a quite reasonable price; email me at [email protected] for more information.) With Katie’s help, I later developed a second edition, with more poems and illustrations. We created an ebook with music by Xenberg, but I couldn’t get it to reliably play on different devices, so I reluctantly shelved the project.

Beginning with Fall, the book follows the seasons, with a poem for each week (each season has 13 weeks). Except for the final week’s poem, these poems are numbered. In the middle of each season a titled poem marks the cross-quarter day. A titled poem falls between each season, a sort of resting place. Two poems mark the end of winter and the middle of the book; the poem on the back cover serves as the poem separating summer and fall.

Given the deadly torrential rains from the recent hurricanes, the title of this section, Fall Rains, is painfully appropriate. Beginning with today’s poem for the third week of fall, over the next year I will post a poem each week, with a title poem to mark the season’s halfway point and two more to mark its end. I will use the illustrations by Katie LaRose and paintings by my great aunt, Cynthia Reeves.

iii.

wet with rain
shirts on the clothesline
drying twice