Poetry Friday: The Dowser's Ear

The Write Sisters are late to the party this week. It's my fault, and I apologize. I hope this poem with its beautiful language makes up for it, as we here along the east coast experience Irene in all her wild attire.  Janet

The Dowser’s Ear

Empty cattle trailers

               Rumbled dummy thunder

Down the road all day, and now tonight,

Heat lightning flashes more of the same fake rain.

It’s just as well. I couldn’t get to sleep,

And now it ricochets across the sky

With empty loads of light. We’ve had a month

Of drought that tightens dirt around my pond.

The local wells are dry. But I’ve retired,

Threw out my wand. I hate this time of year.

            

               Roux can burn if flour

               Sticks in skillet butter.

I’ve been cooking up a storm myself,

My Daddy’s filé gumbo recipe.

He used to be a chef on oil rigs

Until the hurricane. I heard the waves

That killed him, and I hear them every year.

It’s emptiness that fills me. That’s my skill.

I hear the vacant rain before it falls.

It’s like the murmur of a spiraled shell.

         

               Hurricane weather, stewing

               Deep for landfall, spewing

Rain-a-plenty in the Gulf and here

In Tennessee they always have a lack

Of something. Two men called today for wells.

I told them both to go to hell, and now

They think I’m sinful, not to use my skill.

They stand to lose so much, but don’t we all.

I lost a lot in Hurricane Camille

And even now can’t hear the end of it.

               More heat lightning flashes,

               Absent rain that passes

Over clouds, and I can make it out,

Each gurgling current under withered fields,

Down kitchen drains. The neighbors think I’m crazy,

Up all hours, but they’ll never know

The screaming voice inside a breaker’s rage

Or how it simmers in my ear. I hate

The sound of water. Give me one good chance

To make it silent. I’d be right as rain.

 

                      -- Wilmer Mills

 

Funny enough, Irene is hosting Poetry Friday over at Live. Love. Explore! 

Go take a look!