the levee broke this morning

the rainwater pressed up behind it like your average crowd stampede
liquid droplets scramblin’ for tickets to somethin’ or other
pushin’ desperately to invade my yard and homestead like they’ve got somewhere to be
leavin’ nothin’ more than an undammed dam condamned to disrepair for bein’ damned useless

i was tryin’ to sleep when it hit
soaked my clothes through, waterlogged the walls, shorted the heater, drowned the mouse in the hole by the stairs, and pissed off the too-old-for-his-job housecat too lazy or too broken down to give chase

now he’s dryin’ himself in the windowsill, trackin’ mud on my cookware i forgot to scrub last night, still caked with potatoes, eggs, and rapidly rancidifyin’ bacon fat
naught worth eatin’, alls left is a patina of culinary ennui and an empty grocery budget

even with all this rain and floodin’, i’ve still got plenty to clean, and nothin’ to clean it with

I pass the boy some slightly-too-dry catfood with a smile, scratchin’ just under his neck in a manner he remains preferential to in his old age

I start to heat up some water in a hot water bottle on top of the recently deceased water heater where too-old-for-his-job likes to sit, forgettin’ the electrical short that detonated any chances of usin’ this junker to heat nothin’ other than my rapidly frayin’ temper

I don some clothes from the upper closet, mothballed shirts unsullied by neither swampwater nor swampstench

too-old-for-his-job curls into my lap with a huff, i’m not exactly the bosom of abraham, but i’ll have to do for now

rainy season’s gotta end sometime, right?

right?

May God bless each and every one of you.

♾️ 🏳️‍🌈 🏳️‍⚧️

-Sheena