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Friday, January 27, 2012

Poetry Friday -- Rain Songs


April Rain Song
by Langston Hughes

Let the rain kiss you.
Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops.
Let the rain sing you a lullaby.

The rain makes still pools on the sidewalk.
The rain makes running pools in the gutter.
The rain plays a little sleep-song on our roof at night—

And I love the rain.





January Rain Song (Through Gritted Teeth)
by Mary Lee Hahn

A kiss that lasts this long is just downright obscene.
The beating of the rain is making us go collectively insane.
We go to sleep -- it's raining, we wake up -- it's raining. Some lullaby.

The rain makes deep puddles under the swingset. Indoor recess again.
The rain keeps sump pumps running.
Yet, I must not forget that the rain is the reason for our towering trees—

And so I love the rain.





Jim Hill has the Poetry Friday roundup today at Hey, Jim Hill!

11 comments:

  1. Love that first line in your poem, and I remember how it was living in Missouri. "Oh no, it's still raining!" But here in Colorado, we yearn for the one rainy day, & so rarely have one. It's all about perspective, isn't it? Thanks for a look at someone else's weather, Mary Lee.

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    1. It's ironic to be a Colorado native who grumps about rain! But my grumping always comes back to the knowledge that the prodigious rains here result in our prodigious trees -- trees which would gladly reclaim Ohio and turn it back into the forest it once was!

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  2. It's raining here, too, Mary... but I must admit I am less enthusiastic about the weather than you are. I would prefer snow. Or a nice, sunny, day.

    I'll keep telling myself that the rain is good for my trees.

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  3. Lovely response, Mary Lee. It's raining in NH today.

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  4. Love your rainy poem, ML :). We're having duck weather too. I will quack in your honor today.

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  5. I love the rain, having grown up with the yearly Indian monsoons - I lived:
    We go to sleep -- it's raining, we wake up -- it's raining.
    ...and I still miss it!

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  6. Love your poem, Mary Lee! I'm blowing some of our sunny (Georgia) afternoon your way....

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  7. Love it, Mary Lee. I can feel the emotion here (where, I'd note, it's 75 and sunny AGAIN. Monotony. Monotony. :-))

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  8. Like you, I also have a special affinity with the rain at the same time that i also fear its wrath. Like Tara noted, I also lived in a tropical country where the sun rises every single day, whole year round - except when it rains. And the monsoon rains wreak such havoc that its difficult to understand its purpose, its meaning - you just pray for it to let up. Regardless, I, too, love the rain.

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  9. I like a rain a lot, nice n like this poem .

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  10. Indoor recess! The bane of every teacher! I like your version a lot.

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