Running in
the rain,
sweat meeting storm
on the riverbed of my
skin. brown
earth
under my shoes turns to
mud. red
like blood.
Muscles
contract
and
expand
like clouds,
(aren't clouds just muscles
of the sky?)
dissipating energy
that
collects in pools
of percolation.
The sky pours
bringing with it
showers
of
flower
blessings from trees.
The lake
swells
and ripples in the breeze.
My vapour breath
keeps pace with
my heart – racing
to pump rivers
across
the topography
of my body –
of water,
flowing
in cycles.
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About the Poem
The water cycle, also known as the hydrological cycle or the hydrologic cycle, describes the continuous movement of water on, above and below the surface of the Earth.
The water moves from one reservoir to another, such as from river to ocean, or from the ocean to the atmosphere, by the physical processes of evaporation, condensation, precipitation, infiltration, surface runoff, and subsurface flow. In doing so, the water goes through different forms: liquid, solid (ice) and vapour. The water cycle involves the exchange of energy.
I was running around Ulsoor Lake when I visited Bangalore in mid-March and it started to rain, a light drizzle at first. I didn't stop because it wasn't too bad, but by the end of it, I was drenched, in a blend of sweat and rain, and from there this poem was born.
(I couldn't take better pictures because my phone was getting wet)
Form
Usually when I play with spacing, I try to create a visual picture of what I'm saying on the paper (or screen). Mostly how I space words is with the intention of the eye moving a certain way. For example, this line reads downwards, following the path of the flowers falling from trees:
The sky pours
bringing with it
showers
of
flower
blessings from trees.
while this line intends for your eyes to move in a circle, resembling the cycle of water:
of water,
flowing
in cycles.
One of my other greatest joys of writing is finding how one line or the rearrangement of words can give it different meanings. Many times, and in most of my writing, line breaks exist so that a single thing can be read in two ways or to merge two sentences or ideas. I've used it a lot in this poem, but an example is:
skin. brown
earth
under my shoes...
was with the hope that there is an acknowledgement of the brown skin, before you realise that the sentence actually stops at skin and starts again at brown earth, which I hoped would also subtly emphasise the connection between skin and earth. Hopefully this gives more insight into the reading of most of my work.
Have you ever run in the rain?
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Thanks for reading!