Let’s see your rain dance, baby.
C’mon, honey, give it all you’ve got.
Don’t worry if anybody’s watching,
Do your thing, don’t give it a second thought.

—Antsy McClain, “Rain Dance”

•••

Because weather on our coast travels west to east,
the drops that fell on us there this morning—

dampening ocean and sand and meadowsful
of new irises and poppies—seem to have followed

us 150 miles home. And the rain that pelts
us inland near sunset, I imagine, has traveled

all day over hill and mountain, slipping into this
great central valley, wetting us all over again.

This hardly seems fair, secondhand rain
drenching us once more, but, on the other hand,

we in our perennially parched state always
say how much we need the water. Let me

tip my head back to the cloud-shrouded
evening sky, open my mouth to receive,

not complain, practice a little gratitude
instead of annoyance, maybe put on

my new violet rain boots, go find a fresh
puddle with drops polka dotting its surface

and have a good stomp, a splash or two,
this white-haired gal rain dancing with

childlike delight just before night
sets in.

•••

For Antsy McClain, whose birthday is today—HBD2U, Antsy!

You can hear Antsy McClain sing “Rain Dance” here.

•••

Antsy McClain and the Trailer Park Troubadours will play the Sofia in Sacramento, Saturday, April 27, at 7 p.m. Tickets available here.