Rain Falls…

Rain falls in a new existential place for me, as a new concrete era in my life begins.

I see a man walking down the road, talking to himself. He seems incredibly agitated. He’s waving his arms in the air, his arms colliding with rain.

I write from a forlorn coffee shop in a deserted retail complex. They should turn off the FM lite hits and let rain entertain,

Soon, I will write another letter to a friend marooned in rehab. A letter a day for her. She wrote me that they’re keeping her afloat. I include writing prompts and metaphors collected on beaches. I wish I could mail her a driftwood fort.

My legs feel heavy from miles and miles of walking. But I will keep walking nonetheless. In fact, I walked in rain this morning as the light came up over the mountains.

I might hit the tavern in the afternoon and mingle with the OTAs. The talk will be of rain, as it usually it, but it often proves as dull as endless sunny days. Rain begats stories; the sun is their birth control.

I think about an idea for a story about a man who turns into a beaver. The idea was suggested to me by a friend. I wrote the intro to the story in my head, during the morning walk. There will be a creamy porter on tap in the man/beaver’s lodge. He’ll open canned goods with his two front teeth.

Reunions are in the offing. The forecast for them is unknown.

I watched the animated The Cat in the Hat the other day, the first time since I was a kid. What a delight to realize that this is essentially a rain story. The brother and sister can’t go outside to play because of ferocious rain and are bored out of their minds. Then the Cat arrives (carrying an umbrella!) and mischief begins. Mischief ratchets up considerably when Thing I and Thing II show up. Thing I and Thing II intrigue me. They seem like they belong in a rock band. Perhaps we all occasionally need a visit from a Thing I and Thing II in our lives.

The thought occurs me that I’d love to produce a podcast where the only subject was rain: rain memoirs, rain poems, rain folklore, rain songs, all things rain but nothing about the weather. Who would listen to that show? The rain fanatics are out there. I’ve met hundreds of them in recent years.