LORRAINE CAPUTO

Here on the Coast

Rains batter
other parts of the country
earth slithering & crashing
across roads
swollen rivers
spilling into
homes

& here where
the rainy season
should have begun
the clouds gather
sometimes flickering
with lightning
days sultry
unable to catch
a breath

This eve
the palm trees
were still

then past the
twelfth hour
the some-times wind
swished the palms
a man sang
in the empty street below
a gecko chuckled

& a fine rain
briefly swathed
the night

Wandering troubadour Lorraine Caputo’s poetry appears in over 400 journals on six continents, and 23 collections of poetry – including In the Jaguar Valley (dancing girl press, 2023) and Caribbean Interludes (Origami Poems Project, 2022). She also authors travel narratives, articles and guidebooks. Her writing has been honored by the Parliamentary Poet Laureate of Canada (2011) and nominated for the Best of the Net. Caputo has done literary readings from Alaska to the Patagonia. She journeys through Latin America with her faithful knapsack Rocinante, listening to the voices of the pueblos and Earth. Follow her adventures at http://www.facebook.com/lorrainecaputo.wanderer or https://latinamericawanderer.wordpress.com.