drink me, rain says
it’s hard to swallow the whole world dry
so drink me

everything tastes better
in Oklahoma rain

roll your head back and let me buss
your funny cheek, rain says
how little I see your eyes anymore

don’t keep galarshes around
these parts, church steeple downpours
go with everything

grab thunder’s hair and howl, rain says,
you have earned that right

Okie puddles like to dance,
to fleck up around your knees

life tastes so good on you, rain says
let me dress you in the cool armor of mud,
how little I see your shoulders anymore

you have lightning inside you
just like me, rain says,
call each strike by name

you can see the light in everything
when the rain is just right

Jennie Lloyd is a downtown Tulsa-based freelance writer, This Land contributor, poet, and mother of two boys. She specializes in newspaper lingo, de-lux love notes, and prose jive.

Originally published in This Land, Vol. 4 Issue 4. Feb. 15, 2013.