first hard rain in at least two months 
and it only lasts for 30 minutes 
but the burning smell of ions 
floats above the straw-frayed lawn 

my toddler son tries to fit an empty hand-
sanitizer bottle into the hose nozzle 
then the spigot then the dark places 
between the wood 

now the clouds 
open like a broken cathedral 
and far off i see a silver star balloon 
lift into the roiling split of wind 

and then i notice that he has stepped 
into one of my heavy garden clogs 
and is dragging it along as he walks 
the other foot pink-toed on the wet deck 

shuff tip shuff tip until he gets to the edge 
and has to decide if he will step off 
with this weight of generations 
pulling him arduously 

into the earth 

Scott Ferry

As an RN in the great Pacific Northwest, Scott Ferry helps our Veterans heal. In other lives, he taught English and practiced acupuncture. He also serves as Senior Editor at Gleam: Journal of the Cadralor, and his writing appears in American Journal of Poetry, Cultural Weekly, KYSO Flash, MacQueen’s Quinterly, Misfit, Noble/Gas Qtrly, Slippery Elm, Spillway, and Swimming with Elephants, among others.

His third book of poetry, These Hands of Myrrh, is now available from Kelsay Books. His first collection, The only thing that makes sense is to grow, was published by Moon Tide Press in December 2019, and his second, Mr. Rogers kills fruit flies, by Main Street Rag in October 2020.

Author’s website: https://ferrypoetry.com