showers were forecast
a cool drop of rain splashed on my hot feet
standing on the sea wall
looking across Blackwattle Bay at the city
but before the rain hit
before the umbrella was required
the rain was obvious on the water
and advancing
some rain shadows
streaming like rivers
but close up
areas with readable circles
with drops in their centres
the rain hadn’t yet stopped my train of thought
musing about the moored sailing boats
about the sense of freedom they suggest
until the idea of harbour regulations occurred to me
mooring costs, various OH&S requirements
and I remembered all those years ago
the first time someone read my palm
saying, you’re anti-authoritarian!
as though that was a bad thing
naturally I denied it
at a certain point, the umbrella becomes necessary
small crowds are gathering under the giant fig trees
it is now raining seriously
no longer a shower
although maybe that term refers to length of time
naturally I reflect about the years working in schools
and the nature of authority
that I often muse about
having mused about it endlessly in the past
and not got very far
hardly ever reaching a conclusion
about why it actually works
Foucault notwithstanding
by the time I reach the car
the rain is torrential
and I get saturated in the few seconds
of closing the umbrella
the road has become a river
my own street is gushing
torrential becomes more so
when that seems impossible
and expediency blocks out
my thoughts about authority
A terrific poem Anna - enjoyed the flow and ebb, moments of solitude in a public place, reflections juxtaposed with the rain-changed environment
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