Tere Sievers: "July Rain"

The sudden storm

flashes and rumbles

the ozone air a tonic

for the humid afternoon.

I stand waiting

at the screen door

as the hard rain digs

puddles in the dirt.

I remember young Julys,

the mud under my feet

thick, warm and soft.

The cloudburst passes.

I push open the door,

smell the air

and drop my shoes.

"July Rain" by Tere Sievers, from Summer: An Eclectic Anthology of Poetry and Prose, edited by Melanie Villines, Joan Jobe Smith and Eddie Woods. © Silver Birch Press, 2013.

Photography credit: Unknown (originally color).