Greek to Me

Rain comes down, soft at first
my brothers and some friends
play through it in our pickup
game of unholy football
on the holy ground of
the Greek Orthodox church
in nineteen seventy two.
Then it comes harder
– stupid hard –
and we play on
too fun to care
too wet to ever dry.
Play calls drawn up on
the chest of a huddled teammate
then carried out
waddling at top speed
to avoid slips and spills
but we slide anyway
– sideways crossways –
in the muddy deluge
of pre-teen recklessness
in our summer maelstrom
and none of us
can stop grinning
with the knowledge that
all we are doing goes
against every rule of
common sense
not quite enough to
come out of the rain

 

 

 

About the Poet:
Jim Landwehr’s latest eBook poetry collection Reciting From Memory, by Underground Voices was just released in June 2016.  He also has a poetry collection, Written Life, published by eLectio Publishing. His first book, Dirty Shirt: A Boundary Waters Memoir, was published by eLectio Publishing in 2014. He has non-fiction stories published in Main Street Rag, Prairie Rose Publications, Steam Ticket and others. His poetry has been featured in Torrid Literature Journal, Every Day Poems, Off the Coast Poetry Journal, and many others.  For more visit: www.jimlandwehr.com

 

Photo by Skatti.

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