After a drought the ground
must accept what the ground

can accept before the creek
can fill, for the creek

is not a gutter, but permeable.
Consider this first storm preamble

one soon forgets but nevertheless
establishes theme. . . unless it never

rains again, in which case
it is coda, the creek: a crease.


___

Michael Metivier (he/him) is a writer, editor, and musician living in Vermont. His work has appeared in EcoTheo Review, LAAB, jubilat, Crazyhorse, and African American Review, among other journals, and is forthcoming in Bennington Review and Northern Woodlands.