In the moonless riot of midnight,
the cleaver-like torrents of rain
hack hard soil to the bone,
turning tributaries into raging rivers
where white oaks twist and bob
in paroxysmal recklessness, rain-
maddened into battering rams
caving in chunks of muddy banks
big as the loads of dump trucks:
rain rivaling the violence
of a concert pianist practicing,
thundering the keys of his Grand
through Scriabin's No. 7 sonata,
whacking his heart,
racking his body with rapture.
Poem was originally published in Valley Voices
Flood Stage (Mississippi River in another pluvial spring) by Larry D. Thomas
$15.00Price
Larry D. Thomas, the 2008 Texas State Poet Laureate and a member of the Texas Institute of Letters, has published twenty-four print collections of poetry and numerous chapbooks, both in print and online. His most recent major poetry honor is the 2023 Spur Award (poetry category) which he received for New Mexico Bootheel: A Triptych. For the past few years, Thomas has focused his writing and publication efforts on Mississippi River Delta culture.
