Thoughts on poems: Rain
A fuzzy poppy bud covered with rain droplets.
Rain
by Diana Der Hovanessian,
(From Love Poems by Women, editor Wendy Mulford, 1990, p. 104)
Rain undoes the stone
unfastens grass.
Nothing is permanently
attached to bone…
…let rain say nothing stays.
Edited here, but the complete poem is found in the book Love Poems by Women, 1990. This is a perfectly bookended poem. It contains thirteen lines of self-reflection. I tend to read the first and final lines as though they might reveal a hidden truth. In case there is wisdom, here is the last line: let rain say nothing stays. Any [short] poem insinuating nature (weather, months, time of year…) catches me. It is part of the draw to haiku (primarily Basho’s). Matthew Sweet’s “Nothing Lasts” is a great follow-up to this poem.
