"Flood Stage" by Larry D. Thomas from VALLEY VOICES

Flood Stage
(Mississippi River in another pluvial spring)

In the moonless riot of midnight,
the cleaver-like torrents of rain
hack hard soil to the bone,
turning tributaries into raging rivers
where white oaks twist and bob
in paroxysmal recklessness, rain-
maddened into battering rams
caving in chunks of muddy banks
big as the loads of dump trucks:
rain rivaling the violence
of a concert pianist practicing,
thundering the keys of his Grand
through Scriabin's No. 7 sonata,
whacking his heart,
racking his body with rapture.

Copyright © 2025 Larry D. Thomas All rights reserved
from Valley Voices
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission

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