FIRST RAIN OF THE SEASON

Ambient Vapors

stir my barometer . . .

Margie Willis
2 min readSep 18, 2024

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This evening’s gnarly skies promise the first rain of the season . . . days before the autumnal equinox . . . my photo 💙

I feel you arrive already
you weren’t due ’til morn
but you’ve issued an eddy
of moisture-laden particles
to amuse the ambient vapors
and tease my simmering sulk.

The last time we had to part
we unhooked as the skies parted
here you come tiptoeing again
tickling clouds and a gusty swirl
I would know your windy bravado
like I can feel my own marrow.

Dusty sultry air makes me sweat
clouds roil and rope and brood
the firmament soon capitulates
what else can I do but surrender
to your somber mantle of doom
a truculent sketch of conquest.

A most curmudgeonly summer
alternating shivers and swelters
not near enough heat to rouse
my precipitation passion so early
three days before the equinox
your bluster bombs my balance.

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