THANKS A LOT, FELLAS! (No rain rainclouds)

[Sue Littleton]

THANKS A LOT, FELLAS!

Above the panting city
the clouds loll about on their fat haunches,
scratching themselves indecently,
lollygagging, gossiping,
occasionally peeking over the trees
to flick a few drops of moisture at the whimpering lawns.
The midday sky obligingly turns dim and grey
with the promise of rain to come;
the air becomes humid, sticky,
clinging like invisible cobwebs.
"Get on with it!" we indignantly urge the clouds.
Ignoring us, the lazy buffons lean their huge bulks
against the firmament,
yawn, burp a little thunder,
set off a handful of lightning bolt firecrackers,
deign to unleash a few brief showers
on the least-deserving parts of the city
(apparently for the sole purpose
of transforming bare earth to squishy mud
or paved streets to gurgling creeks),
then trundle off toward the beach,
still clowning around.

[justwalt]

sounds like phoenix
i think it hails more there than it rains

clouds are highly emotional, and take offense easily

last week there were three tornadoes in my area, (very rare).
they totaled 34 miles on the ground at up to 400 feet wide.

i do thank clouds on occasion,
not expecting any welcome reply.

welcome to S8
walt

[mnaz]

yeah, that would get annoying, especially if you were up exploring in any of the surrounding hills (or mountains, if you get far enough west). "watch out for those afternoon thunderstorms" . . .

on the subject of desert cities, first question is, why build them? second question might be, "why so many lawns?" lawns? not saying your city is a "desert city" . . . just something I wondered when I lived in vegas for awhile.

side note-- I remember a few years ago, on the road, when I went to meet Cec & Soozen at ELP, then spent a lot of time in the high deserts of nevada-- march thru may-- it wouldn't STOP raining. oh the wildflowers and butterflies on the burnt slopes that year . . .

[Sue Littleton]

Nope, folks, I was writing about Austin, Texas, which rarely has problems with lack of rain--

So that is what it's like in Phoenix and the desert, huh? I agree, why have lawns in a desert city (if you are going to have the ultimiate stilliness of a desert city to begin with). However, believe me, Austin is set in the Hill Country of Texas, has a lake down the center of town, and the worst weather problems are the heat and the accompanying humidity.

I do have a poem about the desert, since our ranch in Southwest Texas gets 9 inches of rain A YEAR. Stand by.

[mnaz]

was always curious about Austin. Cecil (mtmynd) and Soo (SooZen) have been there a few times, remember reading about the endless flat highway there from Phar Lepht, TX, the poor old pickup buffeted by impossible winds across endless span . . .

To me, Nevada seemed something like the "truest" desert in these parts, especially southern NV, with its sub-5 inches of rain. Arizona has its monsoon cycle, something like a foot of rain or so in Tucson, remember hearing that. Plus, NV is about the "coolest" remaining desert in these parts, not so overrun by cattle outfits everywhere (and their fences), plus those gone-scapes. Who has time for a lawn?

[Steve Plonk]

I remember Austin, Texas. There were bats that hung upside down under the viaducts there...Do bats still hang out there? ...Home of the Longhorns--the Aggies greatest enemy--my Dad was a Texas A&M fan...

I lived in San Antonio, Texas, from 1961-1964, which was a few miles down south of Austin. Now both cities have gotten huge...
They were pretty good-sized back then...but no comparison to now.
We had a large hurricane graze San Antonio when we lived there and
the palm trees fell UP hill. The fire ant hills turned into mudholes, rivers overflowed and the city generally got soaked. We hunkered down in an inside room near the stairwell until the "Big Cane" passed. The date was around September 3, 1961 and the name of the Cane was "Hurricane Carla".

[justwalt]

the phoenix i knew was in '82, lived all over TX before that,
but me and the three tornadoes are in northeast PA

and what lawn?, is right... we had the no-maintenance lawn...
sand, rocks, plants, (weed), scorpions, black widow spiders.

walt

[Steve Plonk]

Sue, what a great poem! Took me back quite a few years...something clicked in my head. We had a dry spell right before the 'Cane... Yeah, Walt, I remember gravel "lawns" and raking them to keep the pebbles purty. Parts of Florida was like that, too. Sand and pebbles...

Oh, I remember Nevada, too. I wrote a little piece about Dr. Gonzo, & the "wolfman" on Litkicks.com called "Where the Buffalo Roam" about a ride I got in a red ragtop caddy. But that's not important.

What is important is that Sue writes vividly and gets your "mindmill" to sift the grist downstream...A great talent.

[Sue Littleton]

Who can resist Comments like this! My hats no longer fit, my head is so SWELLED! Thank you, Steve! For the last five years I have been forced to read and write in Spanish, and people in the Algonquin Forum remind me how much I have missed the give-and-take in my own language, fond as I am of Spanish!

[Sue Littleton]

I love Austin, big as it is -- lived there for fifteen years, longest time I've stayed in one place after my first 18 years in Buenos Aires, 1958 to 1976. The Mexican freetail bats still hang out during the summer months under the South Congress Street bridge, and people come from everywhere to watch them fly out at night. Each bat eats about 4 lbs. (I am not sure of this, don't pin me to the wall) of mosquitos a night. They go back to Mexico during the winter. I remember driving home from work across the parallel bridge one evening and having hundreds of bats fly around my old Buick. There is now a sculpture of a bat in front of what used to be the old Night Hawk restaurant. I am one of the four founders of the Austin Internation Poetry Festival, by the way!