Ian C Smith’s work has appeared in Axon:Creative Explorations,The Best Australian Poetry, London Grip, Poetry Salzburg Review, Quarterly Literary Review Singapore, The Weekend Australian,& Westerly  His latest book is Here Where I Work,Ginninderra Press (Adelaide).  He lives in the Gippsland Lakes area of Victoria, Australia.

 

 

 

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What is it about rain?

 

Surrounded all night long,
sometimes a susurrus, insistent again.
What is it about this alluvial sound
that promotes thinking, remembered
scenes nursed like familiar pain?

At times hard, damned hard,
remorseless as existence, this mixed thrill,
then easing as though respite craved
when sore and seeking sanctuary
from the vicissitudes of will.

Downpour, persistent, soaks senses,
the still past lying alongside, awry,
or is it just the beating of a heart,
listening to welcome guttering voices,
confessions from time swept by?

Read more of Ian Smith’s poems here.