Poem on a Rainy Afternoon, October 7, 2023

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It’s been dark all day today
Dark sky
Dark light
Dark rooms whispering dark news

But the soft air invites a sweater
And the birds
talk with me
among the dogwood leaves
in the rain
outside my window

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Heavy clouds all day. It was too dark to mix colors, too dark to photograph art. The news of the world was pretty damn dark, too.

But then I fed the wild birds on the porch roof outside my studio window. They were waiting for me, as usual – sparrows and mourning doves, house finches in their subdued red, jays in their glamorous blue. So much gossiping and yakking while they ate.

It didn’t matter that I couldn’t understand what they were saying. Sitting with them, listening to the rain and their voices, feeling that soft, damp, early autumn chill, it gave a strangely profound sense of perspective.

It felt real. It felt good.

So I wrote about it.

-Jen