Spring 2010, Volume 8

Drury Award Winner

Poetry by Lorine Parks

on the occasion of a torrential rain in Long Beach

each sharp drop so hard
it tears a slit
in the fabric of day
first    water battering at the eyelids
then the pounding of pebble-sized beads
finally granite boulders of thunderclaps
the air is so fluid that crows are grounded
gutters sprout water wings higher than Hummers
Alamitos Bay is being sucked up and funneled
onto the corner of Carson and Clark
the streets have whitecaps and the lawns have tides
Noah himself knocks on our front door and asks to come in
halibut and oysters dripping from his sleeves
he tethers the Arc and tells us stories till midnight

when the sun finally blossoms at dawn
and wisps of steam swarm up from the eaves                    
we pick up discarded jackets   boots   head-scarves   oilskins
shaking limp eels from our damp pockets
now dry and serious   we wonder   what tramp steamer
made those mysterious keel marks
in the mud in our front yard

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BIO: Lorine Parks has taken several semesters of Poetry Workshops at LBCC. Born and educated on the East coast, she considers herself a Californian by now. She owned and operated Stonewood Travel in Downey for over 30 years, and traveled to as many different places as she could. Still, for learning to write, nothing beats the exposure to the writing of others and the feedback of a workshop.