Sometimes the Way It Rains Reminds Me of You by Colleen J. McElroy

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend September 29, 2015   Sometimes the Way It Rains Reminds Me of You   Colleen J. McElroy

these days I speak of myself in the past tense writing about yesterday knowing tomorrow is no more than mist crawling toward violet mountains I think of days when this weather meant you were not so far away   the light changing so fast I believe I can see you turning a corner the rain comes in smelling of pine and moss a kind of brazen intrusion on the careful seeds of spring I pay more attention to details these days saving the most trivial until I sort them for trash or recycle   a luxury I’ve come to know only recently you have never been too far from my thoughts despite the newborn birds and their erratic songs the way they tilt their heads as if dowsing for the sun the way they repeat their singular songs over and over as if wishing for a different outcome            Copyright © 2015 by Colleen J. McElroy. Used with permission of the author. About This Poem   “I live in the rain forest. Torrential or mizzle, the sound of rain snares your body’s rhythms, and its smells prompt reverie. This poem is one of those moments.” —Colleen J. McElroy   Colleen J. McElroy is the author of Sleeping with the Moon (University of Illinois Press, 2007) and the forthcoming Blood Memory (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2016). McElroy is professor emerita at the University of Washington and lives in Seattle, Washington.   Photo credit: Rachel Eliza Griffiths Poetry by McElroy   Sleeping with the Moon (University of Illinois Press, 2007) "Becoming Weather, 21" by Chris Martin "Flood" by Eliza Griswold "It Was Raining in Delft" by Peter Gizzi Poem-a-Day   Launched during National Poetry Month in 2006, Poem-a-Day features new and previously unpublished poems by contemporary poets on weekdays and classic poems on weekends. Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To learn about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit Poets.org.   You are receiving this e-mail because you elected to subscribe to our mailing list. If you would like to unsubscribe, please click here.   © Academy of American Poets 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 901, New York, NY 10038