A phalanx of rain<\/p>\n\n\n\n
marches down a Coos Bay beach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Elmer and I meander in formation,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
minions of a gray legion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I am soaked to my shorts<\/p>\n\n\n\n
this winter morning<\/p>\n\n\n\n
at lightless dawn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I should have worn the pea coat,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
woolen armor,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
a grizzled veteran<\/p>\n\n\n\n
of a quarter century<\/p>\n\n\n\n
on the Oregon Coast,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
repelling, absorbing<\/p>\n\n\n\n
gallons of rain<\/p>\n\n\n\n
in silence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Instead I wear a fancy jacket,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
useless, noisy,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
made from petrochemicals<\/p>\n\n\n\n
that won’t fill my house<\/p>\n\n\n\n
with the aroma of a wet dog<\/p>\n\n\n\n
when it dries by the fire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We pass the homeless encampment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A man emerges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He waves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(We’ve met countless times.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I say good morning<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He’s wearing a green robe and plaid slippers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I laugh. How can I not?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Where’s the pipe,<\/p>\n\n\n\n burning an exotic Scottish blend,<\/p>\n\n\n\n spiced with Jamaican rum,<\/p>\n\n\n\n trailing wisps of smoke<\/p>\n\n\n\n slaughtered by the phalanx?<\/p>\n\n\n\n I see the man yawn,<\/p>\n\n\n\n rain drops the size of pennies<\/p>\n\n\n\n streaming across his face.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A phalanx of rain marches down a Coos Bay beach. Elmer and I meander in formation, minions of a gray legion. I am soaked to my shorts this winter morning at lightless dawn. I should have worn the pea coat, woolen armor, a grizzled veteran of a quarter century on the Oregon Coast, repelling, absorbing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9752,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,4,42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9751","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-meditations","category-of-walking-in-rain","category-poetry","has-post-title","has-post-date","has-post-category","has-post-tag","has-post-comment","has-post-author",""],"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9751","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9751"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9751\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9754,"href":"https:\/\/www.nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9751\/revisions\/9754"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9752"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}