Life in water

I request the rain
all over the earth.
Let it fall
gentle and cool
washing us free
of this endless dry.
Persistent rain
clean and wet
soaking deep into soil
filling unseen caverns
flowing into giant rivers
winding to the ocean
down outstretched arms
through billabongs, waterholes,
wetlands and inland seas.
Let ancient roots in the dark
touch moisture
refill with life and sprout.
Let me see rain
smell rain
get wet when I’m walking.
Let me hear rain
at night on the roof
opening a clear blue day
when crystal drops
linger on branches
catch the sun
and throw dancing reflections
through the garden.
Let there be days misted with rain
until the ground bubbles
squelches
and the grass grows green.

Shaine Melrose is a gardener and poet living in the Adelaide Hills who reads at local open mics and slams. She was a finalist in the 2019 Goolwa Poetry Cup and a runner-up in 2018, and a finalist in the 2019 SA Summer Slam. Her poems have appeared in the two 2018 Friendly Street Poets Anthologies, ‘Anthology 43 Alchemy’ and ‘Fleurieu Flow’, and the Adelaide public art street-festival ‘Raining Poetry’.

Readers’ original and unpublished poems of up to 40 lines can be emailed, with postal address, to [email protected]. Submissions should be in the body of the email, not as attachments. A poetry book will be awarded to each accepted contributor.