Jonathan Greene

The Manufacture of Rain

As the rain starts

it is as if the first drops

are the hardest

to produce.

Some set up time is required,

minute calibrations, calculating

a storm’s severity so that the wrath

of God will be noticed.

Or tuned for the slightest drizzle

so a couple might need to

lean into each other

wordlessly declaring their love.

Once the engines have warmed up,

there is an ease to its repetition.

The walkers with eyes downcast.

The rain returning from foreign seas.