I Wait out a Downpour on the Side of I-25 while Listening to Creedence Clearwater Revival’s Version of “Who'll Stop the Rain”

 

And it occurs to me that the rain has stopped. I get out of my car and look up

at the arm of the Milky Way Galaxy, flexing its bicep

in the August sky like a bodybuilder for an audience of stars,

all of whom seem to be warming up to its cloudy presence

as my eyes readjust to the dusty dark.  Mosquitoes hover

 

above my sun roof. A shapely woman

in a rocket-red pickup truck pulls up beside me,

asks if I need a lift. The stained glass of her accent

shatters in the cathedral of my ears. Summer is here, and the screech of the rusty

gears will sink in the fertile dirt forever.

 

 

Joey Nicoletti was born in New York City. Educated at the University of Iowa, New Mexico State University and Sarah Lawrence College, his poetry has appeared in a number of periodicals, including Aethlon, Free Lunch, Italian Americana, and Valparaiso Poetry Review. He currently teaches English and Creative Writing at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville.