20151030 (cold, gray, rainy, Cleveland days)

Robert Russell Rhodes House 1872 today across Franklin 

Manista's Folly also 1872 but on a sunny blue sky day

Cleveland gets more sun than Germany

Which is odd since Germany has many

More buildings with rooftop solar than

Cleveland if I had to label our city I

Would not use the term sunny clear

Bright more often I compared our skies

To concrete block gray with wetness

Thrown in more often than not we can

Keep a shallow great lake filled with 

Rain runoff Niagara notwithstanding

I don’t think my gray opinion is 

Widely subscribed perhaps I don’t

Get invested enough in the outdoor

Activities which are aplenty I’m

Told I remember once years ago 

Waiting for a dental appointment

Scanning some industrial promotion

Magazine which I didn’t recognize

At first although everything seemed

So familiar turned out to be a listing

With pictures of the many businesses

Belonging to the Greater Cleveland

Growth Association all photos taken

On sunny blue days what a strain

On architectural photographers that 

Must have been chasing around

The area trying to get dramatic

Images on the few days the sun

Sky cooperated did they fly them

In from all over the country my youth

Comes to me as walking from 

My home to school a blur of 

Boots rubbers raincoats umbrellas

Hopping over sidewalk puddles

Staying inside for recess riding the 

Bus to high school in the rain

Uncomfortably wrapped sweating

On a humid bus to get out for a 

Brisk hustle to the entrance then

Jamming it all in a narrow locker

Hoping to keep the water from

Dripping on my books some 

Boys wore only light jackets didn’t

Mind their hair getting wet I went 

To a boys' Catholic prep couple of 

Swipes with a comb their DAs

Were drying I suffered hat hair 

The term hadn’t been coined yet

The brothers who taught us had a

Thirty foot door-to-door from their

Living quarters to the school many

Strode impervious to the weather

With their notebooks clutched 

Under their double-breasted black

Jackets hankie to the glasses at

The desk they were ready to teach

Not quite sure why images of 

Rain so quickly run to school

Experiences pre-college our

Climate couldn’t have changed

That much college thoughts 

Almost always involve trudging

Through snow to the 

Parking lot where I’d 

Meet a friend who drove all 

The rest were hot humid marches

In itchy woolen ROTC uniforms

The easy breezy days are up there

Somewhere too easy too breezy

To create memories

c. J.S.Manista, 2015