‘All of Us Waiting for Rain’

Nicole Farnsley is a photographer and art director from Louisville, KY. She is pursuing a BFA in communication design from Washington University in St. Louis. Her work has been featured in various publications, including Armour Magazine and Strike St. Louis. You can see more of her work on Instagram @nickeltookit or on her website nicolefarnsley.com.

All of Us Waiting for Rain

Our meetings perfectly habitual,

Neither random, nor designed.

Still, I gape at the odds against atomic droplets

Joining elements to vibrate their periodic ritual. 

Laws without congress, cuffs without agency

Arrest particles: dry alone, wet combined.

Nearly savior, thermal starbreaths

Resurrect seas and tears alike

Astride their twin blue beyond; 

Marshal alabaster crowds born aloft,

Gaining mass against the loudest sun.

Porous topaz soaks up five hundred raptured tons.

I haven’t cradled berried brambles birthing;

Never captured clouds bitter-green becoming. But when

They burst, their juice runs purple-sweet for billions.

Our doubled hands stretch to catch their swelling. 

We stand: molecules in a loose thirsty strand,

Drawn to drink in already-spilling skies.

Mark Smeltzer is an aspiring rural poet. He has a master's degree in English from Utah State University. He lives against the mountains of northern Utah with his wife, Chelsea, and rescue pup, Hashbrown.