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