Flash Challenge for BooMerengue

Once upon a time there was a beautiful poet named BooMerengue. I met her in Literotica chat before I ever even discovered this forum and under circumstances that seem very silly when I look back at them. The best thing that happened from that time was that Boo and I became friends and I eventually convinced her to get her poetry writing butt over to this forum and acknowledge her inner poet, let it come out and shine. Well she did and if you read her wonderful poems, you'll know the rest is history. Boostery.

Now Boo comes and goes from this forum and she has been away for a while but, trust this old girl here, to have Boo around is a very good thing because she's cool and fun and very talented. Now she's back and she wants an inspirational shove so here it is.

Challenge:
Write a poem about rain. Write about the quality of rain, how you feel when it rains, something that happens when it rains, a memory you have of rain, you get the idea: anything you can come up with related to rain. Free verse or form, erotic or non, illustrated or not, anything you like, k?

But do it here and do it by midnight Eastern Standard Time tomorrow (that's midnight June 10, 2009). That gives you over 24 hours. Are you in? I am.

Think rain!

Some inspiration:

Rain

Early Morning Rain

Rainy Day Woman

somewhere i have never travelled
ee cummings

somewhere i have never travelled,gladly beyond
any experience,your eyes have their silence:
in your most frail gesture are things which enclose me,
or which i cannot touch because they are too near

your slightest look easily will unclose me
though i have closed myself as fingers,
you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens
(touching skilfully,mysteriously) her first rose

or if your wish be to close me,i and
my life will shut very beautifully, suddenly,
as when the heart of this flower imagines
the snow carefully everywhere descending;

nothing which we are to perceive in this world equals
the power of your intense fragility: whose texture
compels me with the color of its countries,
rendering death and forever with each breathing

(i do not know what it is about you that closes
and opens; only something in me understands
the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses)
nobody,not even the rain, has such small hands

http://www.i-esfera.com/fotos/rain.jpg

You're on, Groovy Gal! I just wish I had half the faith in me you do.

My 3rd best loved boy is in here sleeping so I have to leave for now, but my brain is making sounds of old gears breaking free.

BooMerengue said:

You're on, Groovy Gal! I just wish I had half the faith in me you do.

My 3rd best loved boy is in here sleeping so I have to leave for now, but my brain is making sounds of old gears breaking free.

Click to expand...

I've always had faith in you and you've never let me down!

This is not my entry, but a warm up. I had asked T Bone (my 8 and 3/4's old grandson) if he wanted to help me with this challenge and this was the resulting conversation.

A small voice says to me
Grammy? Why does it rain?
Well, I said, the trees need water.
And the oceans too, right?
he asked. Yes, I said. And flowers.
And people too, he said.
Something in his voice
caught me.
I saw you crying in the
rain the other night.
Smiling, too! he said.
Why?
The rain washes me, I said.
It takes the dust out of my head
and pushes the bad things out.
It's one of my favorite things
letting the rain fall on me.
Mine, too, he said.
I wish it would rain.

Walking along I looked
at his bright face and said
It will, Sweet Boy. It will.

BooMerengue said:

This is not my entry, but a warm up. I had asked T Bone (my 8 and 3/4's old grandson) if he wanted to help me with this challenge and this was the resulting conversation.

A small voice says to me
Grammy? Why does it rain?
Well, I said, the trees need water.
And the oceans too, right?
he asked. Yes, I said. And flowers.
And people too, he said.
Something in his voice
caught me.
I saw you crying in the
rain the other night.
Smiling, too! he said.
Why?
The rain washes me, I said.
It takes the dust out of my head
and pushes the bad things out.
It's one of my favorite things
letting the rain fall on me.
Mine, too, he said.
I wish it would rain.

Walking along I looked
at his bright face and said
It will, Sweet Boy. It will.

Click to expand...

Wow! Boo! I love you and this is a wonderful start for a re-awakening. Love you, Doll!

carrie-on said:

Wow! Boo! I love you and this is a wonderful start for a re-awakening. Love you, Doll!

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Well, now that I have you over here and the sky didn't fall, where's your entry? C'mon, DollFace! You can do it!!

Boo,
I read a bunch of your stuff. Sonnet to a Whiskey Bottle just touched me. Me being a sonnet writer and all, I just appreciate the form and those who use it well. You use it well. Welcome back. And any friend of Angeline's is definitely a friend of mine.

Following is apropos of nothing, but rain moves me (I see it every day at precisely 2:00 pm), and this has moved me for years and years. Not mine, but I damn sure wish it was. Just for inspiration:

I Think It's Going to Rain Today

Broken windows and empty hallways;
A pale dead moon in the sky streaked with gray;
Human kindness is overflowing,
And I think its going to rain today.

Scarecrows dressed in the latest styles,
With frozen smiles to chase love away;
Human kindness is overflowing,
And I think its going to rain today.

Lonely, lonely--
Tin can at my feet,
Think Ill kick it down the street,
Thats the way to treat a friend.

Bright before me the signs implore me
To help the needy and show them the way;
Human kindness is overflowing,
And I think its going to rain today.


Again, welcome back.
Anschul

Ange, were you watching the weather channel when you came up with this challenge? Itis raining cats, dogs and every other creature you can think of as I type this. Beyond perfect inspiration, I tell ya. Here's mine

Heaven swelled and cried
diamond tears from Lucy's sky
Aquatic sheets sheath crystalline panes
An unsleeping city awash in
rain
rain
rain
Bodies on the street, part like the Red Sea
seeking Noah's Ark, passage to safety
Soil saturated, flowers drunk on libation
Tree limbs bow under the weight of hydration
Curb-side sewer drains morph into moats
Silently, the unsleeping city floats


This one is an old poem that's been submitted, but it applies perfectly to this challenge.

Stormy Weather

Diamond-hoofed dancers descend
From cotton candy clouds
Assuming a delicate stance
They dazzle the earth that lies below

Their movement fluid, passionate flourishes
Pirouettes propelled by whipping wind
At once gentle and brute
The elements tango in tandem

No rehearsals, just improvisation…the moment
Lightning dances the rumba
To boom-bastic claps of thunder
Played in surround sound

Winding down, a hush befalls the air
Leaves settle, like bumble bee kisses, on flowers
Golden rays clear a path through the crowd
The closing number is a rainbow



Hope this helps Boo.

Anschul said:

Boo,
I read a bunch of your stuff. Sonnet to a Whiskey Bottle just touched me. Me being a sonnet writer and all, I just appreciate the form and those who use it well. You use it well. Welcome back. And any friend of Angeline's is definitely a friend of mine.

Following is apropos of nothing, but rain moves me (I see it every day at precisely 2:00 pm), and this has moved me for years and years. Not mine, but I damn sure wish it was. Just for inspiration:

I Think It's Going to Rain Today

Broken windows and empty hallways;
A pale dead moon in the sky streaked with gray;
Human kindness is overflowing,
And I think its going to rain today.

Scarecrows dressed in the latest styles,
With frozen smiles to chase love away;
Human kindness is overflowing,
And I think its going to rain today.

Lonely, lonely--
Tin can at my feet,
Think Ill kick it down the street,
Thats the way to treat a friend.

Bright before me the signs implore me
To help the needy and show them the way;
Human kindness is overflowing,
And I think its going to rain today.

Randy Newman​

Again, welcome back.
Anschul

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*chuckling (I do this a lot)

I had forgotten all about that poem. Thanks for the laugh, and the welcome back. It's good to be here. I used to love listening to Randy Newman. He was so simple and fun. I had a fav of his but I've forgotten it. Did he do Everybody's Laughing At Me" from Midnight Cowboy? Gaawwwd!! That was a long time ago. I'll go look.

Thanks again, Anschul

Go write your own rain poem. Kick Ange on the way by.

BooMerengue said:

*chuckling (I do this a lot)

I had forgotten all about that poem. Thanks for the laugh, and the welcome back. It's good to be here. I used to love listening to Randy Newman. He was so simple and fun. I had a fav of his but I've forgotten it. Did he do Everybody's Laughing At Me" from Midnight Cowboy? Gaawwwd!! That was a long time ago. I'll go look.

Thanks again, Anschul

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Actually, that was the late, great (very great) Harry Nilsson. You might be thinking of Short People

i like challenges

Snapshots from a Sonoma Vacation

Between hills and valleys in Sonoma
I chase after my fallen angel girl
Smiling, she dashes off
Toward a blurring sun
To hide her precious pearl

Reposed next to grape trees
“Caught me,” she offers with no regret
lips hungry, almost pouting for a kiss
Her pale skin glowing rose
as she pokes the earth
with tastefully pedicured toes

One kiss
Starts the next
Soon followed
By the first drop of wetness

I explore her legs beneath the dress
Smoothly, going higher
Kissing her with thundering lust
Touching with hands skilled
in the fine art
Of making the angel blush

Cautiously evaluating our surroundings
No sign of our tour group
Using both arms, I free her
From her favorite sundress.

Through cotton, I trace
Inhaling nature’s perfume
The damp symmetrical shape
Penetrated first with just one
Then crushing against her
A handful of grapes

Intricate kiss
Electrifies her
Soon followed
By a downpour

“I want it now,” she demands
As I pull her underwear to one side
She unclasps my belt
with steel buckle clinks
Faded jeans quickly in a heap
throbbing inside her
deeper it sinks

Her bra strap is dirtied
not quite like her panty
from soil loosened by rain
Pounding and ravishing
beyond all that is sane

The thunder and rain become
an improvised symphony
Every single drop
Each earth-shaking clap
in rhyme with the sound
of passion being quenched
Unique notes changing tempo
Orgasmic bodies drenched

Through flowing streaks of rain-bent light
She looks straight to my soul
Intoxicated with delight
deviant eyes
Always that kind of angel

Anschul said:

Actually, that was the late, great (very great) Harry Nilsson. You might be thinking of Short People

Click to expand...

ding! ding! You are exactly right. Thanks. I just had a huge memory overload hearing Harry Nilsson's name. Did he do the one about the cab driver who picked up his old love from his college days?

"You were gonna be an actress
and I was gonna learn to fly"

chillbump memories, at that.

BooMerengue said:

ding! ding! You are exactly right. Thanks. I just had a huge memory overload hearing Harry Nilsson's name. Did he do the one about the cab driver who picked up his old love from his college days?

"You were gonna be an actress
and I was gonna learn to fly"

chillbump memories, at that.

Click to expand...

Nope. That was actually Harry Chapin, and the song was Taxi. His brother Tom is a good old friend of mine (please don't get me started on Tom Chapin! He sang Happy Birthday to Angeline the other day). I'm an old rock 'n roll degenerate. I can do this all night (although I need some sleep at some point...kids wake up at six, motors revved, batteries charged, springs wound...)

Anschul said:

Nope. That was actually Harry Chapin, and the song was Taxi. His brother Tom is a good old friend of mine (please don't get me started on Tom Chapin! He sang Happy Birthday to Angeline the other day). I'm an old rock 'n roll degenerate. I can do this all night (although I need some sleep at some point...kids wake up at six, motors revved, batteries charged, springs wound...)

Click to expand...

My brain has turned to mush.

Go sleep. Get restored. I thought you were older than me. Kids wake at 6? Ohhh, you stud!!

*laughing as I head off to bed myself.

even the rain cannot put me to sleep
not tonight
from every room, congested breathing
even the dog snorts
and my brain won't stop
it twitches and sparks
short circuited by inconsistencies
they are lying they are lying
my brain twitches
flickers
searches for the true path
where everything they say links and flows
like rain down glass
my brain searches
the smooth way down
tries to allow water to reach it's own level
but I cannot rest
I push the ocean uphill
my mind
longs for water
to drown me down
stop sparks from jumping
let me sleep in ease believing
he will be okay
he will be okay
at least for tonight
but it is too quiet
not even the rain

BooMerengue said:

Well, now that I have you over here and the sky didn't fall, where's your entry? C'mon, DollFace! You can do it!!

Click to expand...

Yeah, you got me here but i'm still not a poet! You are a wonderful one though and the others i have read are great, too.

BooMerengue said:

My brain has turned to mush.

Go sleep. Get restored. I thought you were older than me. Kids wake at 6? Ohhh, you stud!!

*laughing as I head off to bed myself.

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Boo, Darling, when my last one graduates from high school, I'll be seventy-two. Do the math.

Rain

The tourists hate those black clouds overhead,
The ones that blot the sun at two o'clock,
That dump a ton of rain on flower beds
And send the pale visitors into shock.
They come here just to be seen on South Beach,
They come to see Madonna drunk at night.
They never do, but say they did. They preach
Of Gomorrah from sweet suites locked up tight
Against the summer storm. They close their eyes
To the wonder of the beautiful rain
That feeds our farms and gardens. Hear their cries
Of indignation, expressions of pain.
The daily afternoon storm dumps plenty
Of rain, but then is over by two-twenty.

On A Clear Day

The past found resons in the rain
not to hope, not to dream, only to blame,
Today, the wind stirred the clouds,
sunrise dried the pain.

Now, bitter streams are broken
and this heart cannot contain
the light of change
in a world of wisdom
filling life’s autumn of attainment.

http://www.nathanfoto.com/paw/2005/2005_51alt5.jpg

And the rains came down.
A flash flood of emotions
storm clouds gather on my brow
beating to the ground
that last remnant of pride
I huddle seeking shelter,solace
in a heart that doesn't care.
I drown and pour away
disappearing into tear soaked
oblivion.

my first submission in over two years. Thanks, Ange. I hope it's good enough.

A Letter Lost

This envelope is empty,
the words gone
like a windblown leaf.
It shouldn't matter,
just words you know,
but now the words are gone.

It's going to rain tonight.
A lot of rain.
Tornadoes,
flash floods,
trees down,
torrents of rain.

I can barely wait.
I don't cry.
I won't.
But in the rain,
when I go scream yet again,
who will really know?



for Rybby

Houses are carried off.
The rain has changed
from a gentle friend
tapping on the window
to a monster unleashed

the thousand-mouthed
Kraaken is gobbling
summer's landscape:
ballfields and bbq pits,
dusty roads, ice-cream trucks
are swallowed and I think

of all the times Daddy said
"You're not a sugar cookie,
cookie. You won't melt."

I wish

for simple moments
on the dry side of the screen
door when we shared
the old rocker and root beer.
We counted "One Mississippi
Two Mississippi,"
a child's incantation
against thunder.

BooMerengue said:

my first submission in over two years. Thanks, Ange. I hope it's good enough.

A Letter Lost

This envelope is empty,
the words gone
like a windblown leaf.
It shouldn't matter,
just words you know,
but now the words are gone.

It's going to rain tonight.
A lot of rain.
Tornadoes,
flash floods,
trees down,
torrents of rain.

I can barely wait.
I don't cry.
I won't.
But in the rain,
when I go scream yet again,
who will really know?



for Rybby

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It is.

I miss him, too.

On a clear day,
I can see to tomorrow.

Mist falls freely
in the gloom doom afternoon
of my life.
I’d say I was in a fog
but my cheeks are wet
and I’m not sweating.

I am in a fog,
or at least my thoughts are,
as I can’t seem to make out
what I wanted to say.
Or maybe it is because
I said it already.

I said it all, already.
Exhausted, I have exhausted words
and emotions.
Emotions have run dry,
but not the tears,
and not the rain.

It is coming down harder now.
I can hardly see across the street
and it feels cooler.
Skin feels cool to the touch.
Not that I can touch you anymore,
you have turned so cold.

There, a break in the clouds,
but there is no rainbow.

free ride

let's fill up our hearts in happy hypotheticals
print them on sheets of pouring rain
watch them pound the ground like drum beats

Somehow
now
imagine each smiling face
in a future place
eating cookies with a cup of tea
feeling fruity moments of fancy free...