“A Pattern Sets In”

Eventually the rain increases.

The tone, timbre, volume and tempo
begin to beat on your roof,
your windows, anything hollow
you left in the drip-line.

As the torrents slacken,
the downspouts drum on
my plastic hose housing,
splatter on the flagstones like wet suicides.

At night, as we try to sleep,
having done nothing more
than wrestle worries all day,
the rains seep into our heads.

If I lay on my side with
one ear muffled and the other
trained on the ceiling, the water
sounds like its inside with me.

I expect to wake, like some,
to water around the bed.
Instead, it sounds like it drips
from the ceiling, runs down the walls.

If I turn just a bit, the
acoustics hide the running water
inside my wall, like a poor
reservoir plan.

Knowing better does little.
I have to sit up, look around
as if the darkness will confirm anything at ease.

Eventually the water gets inside.
It is the will power
of a crowd sourcing of droplets.
They find a way.

First leak is upper bath.
Second is downstairs kitchen,
third is girls’ bath.
Mimicking air, it snakes down the vents.

During let-ups, we tour outside
staring at the roof, wishing for
a drone. It is the short vent pipes
without caps that are culprits.

A thing to fix later.
For now, we patch inside
with insurance photos
and a soup pan.

Mark Kessinger was born in Huntington WV, and grew up in Lorain, Ohio.  He attended college at Cleveland State University, on a creative writing scholarship, publishing two collections through the CSU Poetry Center: The Exploded View, and The Book of Joe.  Both volumes are available on Kindle.  Mark lived briefly in Oklahoma City before settling in the Houston TX area.  He has led several workshops in writing, and edited a chapbook series titled Voices from Big Thicket.  A founding member of the Houston Council of Writers, Mark has also appeared at the Houston Poetry Fest.  He has numerous works published in a variety of small press magazines, and has appeared in three major anthologies: Cleveland Voices, Both Sides Now, and Inheritance of Light.