Sand Cranes in Rain by Martin Willitts Jr.

It is straining rain. One glance —

it’s entirely possible the sun will not emerge today.

My window ripples with rain.

Does it rain elsewhere in the galaxy? 

A green heron folded into itself like an umbrella.

Even rain cannot wash out the miraculous.

There are days, where I feel out of place, 

like I’ve stepped into this world

as the only mystery 

not worth understanding.

We get glimpses of raw moments 

hidden in plain sight, 

simple as wildflowers 

placed infrequently in the fields 

like after-thoughts, wild as sand cranes 

startled into confused flight.

Those cranes, shrieking into the rain, 

is a music we seldom hear.

Martin Willitts Jr has over 20 chapbooks including the winner of the Turtle Island Quarterly Editor’s Choice Award, “The Wire Fence Holding Back the World” (Flowstone Press), plus 11 full-length collections including “How to Be Silent” (FutureCycle Press, 2016) and “Dylan Thomas and the Writing Shed” (FutureCycle Press, 2017).