From WTP Vol. V #7

Thunderstart
By Emily Mohn-Slate

We’re in the sea when the rain comes hard
He runs to shore    his legs
slick and purposeful

to build a canopy of umbrellas
over our bags
on a cracked plastic chair

When he’s done
he stands and watches
to make sure it doesn’t fall

I didn’t ask him to do this   to build
a thin roof over our things
I’m afraid I’ll get used to this kindness

From somewhere up in the leaves
thunder starts
I worry in the water

Knowing he will come to me soon
I float on my back
open my mouth

to warm rain
instead of the wavering architecture
of his promises

Emily Mohn-Slate’s recent poems are forthcoming or have appeared in New Ohio Review, Crab Orchard Review, Indiana Review, Tupelo Quarterly, Poet Lore, and elsewhere. Her manuscript, The Falls, was a finalist for the 2016 Agnes Lynch Starrett Prize from University Pittsburgh Press, and the 2017 Blue Light Book Prize from Indiana University Press/Indiana Review. She teaches creative writing at Chatham University and lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.