Will Reger

A Coming Storm
 
The heavy air surrounds me.
Rain is in it, threatening
the earth with heat-lightning,
thunderous rampages, then
a pregnant silence, waiting
for the cry of rain on the leaves,
but hearing nothing just yet.
The neighborhood is a marina
of boats anchored in place.
Among all that life in hold,
the weather is an abstraction.
Rain might fall, or maybe not.
We are afloat on our tiny raft,
open to the elements, a splinter
off the vast promise of this land.
The wind manipulates the trees,
turning them into restless ghouls
dressed like charging horses.
The rain will not arrive tonight,
perhaps the thunder must strike
the sky a few more times to bring
the rain down to our thirst.

Will Reger has a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois. He has published four collections of poetry available through Amazon. He has served as the inaugural poet laureate for the city of Urbana, Illinois 2019-2020. For the last decade he has been active in promoting poetry in his community.