I am uneasy after a rain. The night air
is heavy and still. There is no moon.
From where I sit on this old porch I can see cars
pushing cones of light on the road through haze
and a smattering of fireflies flickering at a black boundary
of trees beyond the farmhouse. Even the frogs
are subdued, only a few thrumming in their throats
like badly tuned banjos. The forest
fills with remnant sounds of a storm falling
through canopy. A loon’s moan reminds me
of an abyss. I know nothing here, and fear
is an unwelcome companion, an interrogation.
I wonder if wet ground softens a predator’s approach,
if something is moving in the trees over there,
why I feel so helpless. What aberration has left this play
of shadows for me to spoil in.