A Poem by Kevin Stadt

Come Smell the Rain with Me

she leans at the window
flung wide open
breathes the washed air
with eyes closed
when I walk in she turns
slowly
reaches out
to me
and says
"Come smell the rain with me."

her slender arm
slides around my waist
warm skin and
cool, washed air
water
falls
from the sky
to the earth

she drinks it in
cycles
circles
this way and no other, here
eyes open, now
drops in oblong spheres
lips pursed for a kiss
arms in circuit
"Oh"
all for a moment,
only

how can I explain to my sons?
which friends
which school
which job:
all are details, following after
the one true nub--
the pivot point
hides in finding
a woman
who floats into your afternoon
of plotting and scribbling and fretting,
slows it to a poem,
and says something like
"Come smell the rain with me."

Kevin Stadt earned his M.A. in teaching writing and his Ph.D. in American Literature.  He teaches English at Seoul National University of Science and Technology.  Though he hails from a small town in Illinois, he now lives in the Korean countryside with his wife Hyunju and sons Skyler and River.  His horror fiction has appeared in Under the Bed, and his science fiction story "Lunar Escape" will appear in an upcoming anthology, Lazarus Risen, published by Bundoran Press.