To My Rain
1.
Like the poet
who asked me at a party
if she should have heard of me
if you need to know what these poems
are about
you aren’t really interested.
Of all the Swiss poets
living in Exeter
I’m the most obsessed
with rain
because when I wake up
each day
the rain’s there
even when it’s not raining.
What more
do you want?
When Peggy Ashcroft said
‘There was a nail’
to explain why her Chagall
hung behind a spare bedroom door –
that’s how I feel
about the rain.
2.
I am falling
pretty much
continuously
and in stair-rods.
That I manage this
without crying
is my secret
one that leads to more tears
at a date of my choosing
(I mean, my body’s –
it always knows best).
Apparently, I never make a point
in a meeting
without first touching my face.
I’m touching it now
as I lean over this notebook
a brilliant day in March
(I can’t believe I’m saying this)
with no rain.
If I knew
how to fall
silently
don’t you think
I would have perfected it
by now?
All is Lost (Spoiler Alert)
Robert Redford watches his boat disappear
in the middle of the ocean
certain he is going to die
in the wettest film ever made.
Incredible to think
his specs somehow make it
into the emergency kit
along with stationery.
His opening line (VO, credits) –
‘I’m sorry’ –
what the whole thing
takes to unravel.
Let me save you the time.
In the end a hand
comes down to save him
(third container ship lucky)
but not until after he sets fire
to his life raft
and gives in to the black depths
with a burble.
Choose your own metaphor.
I actually thought he’d bought it
and was happy
(if happy is the right word)
with the decision
much more than The Perfect Storm
which I made the mistake of watching
after I got better
and which
unlike everything else I have loved
I still regret
not reading up on first.
_______________
Anthony Wilson’s fifth book of poems is The Afterlife (Worple Press, 2019). He is
also author of Deck Shoes, a collection of essays (Impress Books, 2019).
In 2015 he published Lifesaving Poems (Bloodaxe Books), after his blog of the same
name. He lives and works in Exeter. www.anthonywilsonpoetry.com