California Winter
By Patricia Morris
(with thanks to Ted Kooser)
The wind turns the pages of rain
As drops splatter on the skylights,
beating a rhythm punctuated by
the cracks of unmoored oak limbs
hitting the roof.
The rain chain dances,
brass acorns jingling,
water swooshing through its cups.
The creek rushes over rocks,
gushes into the culvert and out again,
making its overground / underground way to the river.
The thirsty earth soaks it in,
filters it down into empty aquifers.
One chapter ending, another beginning.
Freewrite inspired by the poem, A Rainy Morning, by Ted Kooser
Patricia Morris misses the summer thunderstorms of her rural Midwestern upbringing, but enjoys observing and writing about the California rains from her home in Petaluma.
After careers as diverse as trial lawyer and organization and leadership development consultant and coach, she is exploring life beyond the workaday world.
Every Monday night she writes with friends at Marlene Cullen’s and Susan Bono’s Jumpstart Writing Workshops. Her writing has appeared in Rand McNally’s Vacation America, the Ultimate Road Atlas and The Write Spot: Possibilities edited by Marlene Cullen. Available on Amazon, print $15 and ereader $2.99.
