Poem of the Week: Of Rain and Air - Wayne Dodd

Hi friends,
This week's poem is a wonderfully evocative piece, and a great example of enjambment used well, with purpose to create a mood. Wayne Dodd is another contemporary American poet, and according to the internet he's also the Distinguish Professor of English at Ohio University. So there you go - poetry can take you places!
What else can I say about this poem? Have you been there? - walking in the night rain - it wakes you up even as it soothes and quiets you. Even if you never had, this poem would take you there. It's a little masterpeice.



Of Rain and Air
By Wayne Dodd

All day I have been closed up
inside rooms, speaking of trivial
matters. Now at last I have come out
into the night, myself a center

of darkness.
Beneath the clouds the low sky glows
with scattered lights. I can hardly think
this is happening. Here in this bright absence

of day, I feel myself opening out
with contentment.
All around me the soft rain is whispering
of thousands of feet of air

invisible above us.


from Sometimes Music Rises. (c) 1986. University of Georgia Press.