Two women, one umbrella, and a puddling rain make for the perfect poetic pose…
The Puddling Rain
(in tribute to Leonid Afremov’s painting Friends Under the Rain)*
At first blush, it is the puddling rain
on the street below their feet
that has the most reality;
they are two women,
under one umbrella,
walking away,
talking their way
through a shower of color,
downpours of electric reds,
tangential oranges,
and popsicle blues.
There,
in front of them,
is a concentration of light,
a clearing in the rain,
the future they walk toward;
I watch them as they walk;
talking, sharing
their day, their jobs,
their husbands, their homes,
their children, the schools, and the eternal
after-school activities,
and did you hear?
and can you believe?
and then, I said!
and they both laugh,
and touch each other’s arms,
oblivious to the rain,
all the rain,
all the while.
Randy Mazie
* You can view Leonid Afremov’s painting Friends Under the Rain by clicking this link
or copy and paste this: afremov.com/images/product/image_2089.jpeg into your browser.
His overall website is located at: afremov.com/friends-under-the-rain-palette-knife-oil-painting-on-canvas-by-leonid-afremov-size-24-x30.html
I am not affiliated with the website nor the artist in any fashion.
His painting though inspired me to write the poem. Art imitating art, so to speak.
Please read my other poetry inspired by painters sprinkled throughout my WordPress site. One link is here, or, again, cut and paste:
thewritersvillage.wordpress.com/2012/08/28/lost-inside-of-rembrandts-poem-self-portrait-with-two-circles-1660-reason-2-rhyme-tribute/ into your browser
The Writer's Village 
Art about art indeed!
And we overhaeard three ladies in the pool today – they did slow laps for a log time and talked about everything – (did you hear and can you believe ) so this poem resonated for that timely event connection !
Also – I could not find the exact painting and did you link it here? It would have helped to see it – IMO –
But I saw his other work and can imagine the piece and how your descriptive colors were aligned!
I loved your poem here – even without seeing the painting there is plenty to soak up (ha)
I didn’t post the picture because I didn’t/don’t have permission of the artist. I linked it as I believe it would be legal to link to the artist’s site.
The first link will take you to his painting.
The second link takes you to another poem of mine based on another painting; this one of Rembrandt.
Thanks for your comments.
Randy
Well I think you can share it legally under fair use – and then to note that it is for sale would only be helping the artist – so I am sure they’d oblige if you asked – but not a big deal is it?
And actually randy – I liked not having the image in the post because you let your words do all the describing and it was more of an experience –
And maybe I was conditioned to be used to seeing the image and words in our image-rich culture –
Thanks for your ideas.
I always like to hear from readers, as I imagine all of us bloggers/writers do.
And yes, I like my work to be able to stand alone without a photo/picture prompt.
Glad you found the piece evocative.
Randy
🙂
peace