Rain/Not-Rain

by Kathy Skaggs

All around me
people are stripping tobacco
in the rare rain
and my window is up in the bedroom
and the heat is on
and I am reading my old poems:
every poem I've written in the past two years
has been about rain
or not-rain
everything in the past two years
has been about rain
or not-rain
everything everywhere always
is/has been/will always be
will always have ever been
about rain
or not-rain
about rain
and not-rain
and last night she said it to me
spoke it
right out loud
but not loud
with a smile
and a laugh
politely
as we do around here
last night she said it
in my face in my eyes in her eyes
as our eyes met
there in the space between us
so I could see
so even I could see
while all around us
people were stripping tobacco
wondering if it would be
rain today
or not-rain
how she put me forever
outside rain
outside not-rain
outside the tobacco-stripping outsiders outside
inside with the window up
and the heat on
outside the outsiders
alone
alone
with no rain
and no not-rain.

Kathy Skaggs