Susanna Kittredge
Ekphrastic Slideshow with Sky
after images by Angela N. Weddle published in Salamander Issue #51

6pm Wednesday. Steven sits in the dark rec center
with his phone connected to his earholes. Outside,
the cybernetic rain pelts the window like a fresh start.

*

Electrical storms again. The kind
where the rain and lightning run sideways.
A huge fan on the east face of the building
goes crazy, flashing like a child’s pinwheel.

*

Birds land on a wire and start glowing. This
is how Laura’s balcony is lit. One roofline fades
into the next and the delivery truck below flashes
its headlights impatiently.

*

Antoine heads out of town. He likes to row
through the deep swamp, but the sun finds him
whether he wants it to or not. It turns the swamp golden
when he was hoping for time alone
with the green-brown murk.

*

The clouds are gray but almost as docile
as the cows wading through the shallow river
below, imagining the grass of tiny islands
will be sweeter than that of the bank.

*

When the cows have gone to sleep,
and the road is empty, the clouds
grow fierce.

*

Sunday, Marsha sits on the subway
with her faux-leather bag beside her.
There is nothing out the window
but on-off streaks of artificial light.

*

The days between, Gloria crosses the street
with her hair whisked together in a frowsy knot.
She thinks she may be the colors of the sunset
reflected in the rain-wet street.