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The sky must be covered in nodules to weep so much.
If it has eczema it must understand
that to have skin is to suffer
“Do you hate the rain falling onto overflowing gutters,
unfilled potholes?
You said the only thing you learnt in school was to hate.”

“You can’t blame the rain for itself,
it’s doing what it’s supposed to,”
is not helpful.
I’m trying emollients like new clothes
I don’t want people to see.
This itch should not be necessary.

“Try not to cover your impression of the rain.
A memory glares at me as I pull back the curtain,
a housemate gawking at the infection
cordyceps, he gasps
with real fear.
Others shrink back at the redness.
This skin grins at the reactions but I don’t want it
to rule me—
I remember when I scratched so much it bled.

This skin, this skin
this
fucking
rain
won’t let up.
“The river’s banks must be burst because of it.”