from The Philadelphia Inquirer
January 02, 2005
The 1,000-Year Storm
The basement wall is not a wall
only stones soaked through.
Sheets of rain and sheets and blankets,
Emily's eyes softer and softer.
Water streams under the French doors
on the basement floor.
A $1,000 deductable--
for the 1,000-year storm.
All reports arranged to float or sink,
cars not stuck near Gldwynne, float
at Conshocken; on Midvale
floodwater sweeps woman under;
the sound of water, a truck parked nearby.
Double-crossed at Trenton, boats
are ordered to moor;
Washington's Reenactors revolt.
Not a drizzle nor merely a downpour--
it's that kind of rain.
Hold the space, take their place,
clouds replace the clouds.By Thomas Devaney
Thomas Devaney, creative writing lecturer and Writers House program coordinator at the University of Pennsylvania, is the author of "Letters to Ernesto Neto.""We'll be wringing out 2004: It could end up as one of the 10 wettest years on record in the area" originally appeared on page A01 of The Inquirer on December 15, 2004.