Drought Remedy

You can tell by the gathering thunderheads
     that enough modern day shamans must have performed
     today’s most effective rain dance rituals—
          either by washing their cars
or planning outdoor weddings in the spring.

Not to be superstitious, but let us not jinx this
     by looking at the weather channel
     rather than stepping outdoors to feel the air.

And quick, before the sky opens,
     let us reroute these aluminum gutters,
     street side gullies,
     concrete culverts,
     dikes, ducts and drains designed
to protect us from flood by dehydrating the landscape.

With some reverse engineering,
     backwards pioneering,
     and a handy undo-it-yourself mentality
     we can turn convention on its head
     like an upside-down umbrella
and slow, spread, and sink this sweet rainfall.

Let’s dig us some swales
     swollen with saturated sponges
     of punky wood and mushroom mycelium
     and strengthened with the rebar-like roots of resilient plants.
     Watch as these drops filter through the earth
     to fill our emptied aquifers,
those underground rivers thirsty too long now
     under impervious parasols of parching pavement.

Shakened and awakened by the thunder on the horizon now,
     why not go out barefoot in these cold showers,
     quench our skin,
     celebrate
and sing our appreciation with the frogs?