by Cherie Hunter Day

Written 26 April 1995. First published in Woodnotes #27, Winter 1995, page 33, and referred to in the author’s “Rengay: Going Solo” essay in Northwest Literary Forum, Autumn 1995. “Night Rain” is, I believe, the first solo rengay ever written.

night rain

splashes in a bucket—

downtown bus depot

                someone else’s ticket stub

                stuck to the sole of my shoe

man in a trench coat

waiting for his coffee

to cool

another pass

at the row of pay phones—

she checks each slot

                a lingering good-bye

                one last deep kiss

in the wake

of a departing bus

         cherry petals