{"id":18455,"date":"2025-01-28T21:55:14","date_gmt":"2025-01-29T03:55:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/?p=18455"},"modified":"2025-01-31T15:19:42","modified_gmt":"2025-01-31T21:19:42","slug":"let-it-rain-london-workers-eyes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/2025\/01\/28\/let-it-rain-london-workers-eyes\/","title":{"rendered":"Let It Rain, London Workers, &amp; Eyes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-large-font-size\"><strong>Let It Rain, London Workers, &amp; Eyes<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-social-links is-content-justification-right is-layout-flex wp-container-core-social-links-is-layout-765c4724 wp-block-social-links-is-layout-flex\"><li class=\"wp-social-link wp-social-link-facebook  wp-block-social-link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/profile.php?id=61556140010887\" class=\"wp-block-social-link-anchor\"><svg width=\"24\" height=\"24\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.1\" 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s-0.009,2.688-0.052,3.637c-0.04,0.877-0.187,1.354-0.31,1.671c-0.163,0.42-0.358,0.72-0.673,1.035 c-0.315,0.315-0.615,0.51-1.035,0.673c-0.317,0.123-0.794,0.27-1.671,0.31c-0.949,0.043-1.233,0.052-3.637,0.052 s-2.688-0.009-3.637-0.052c-0.877-0.04-1.354-0.187-1.671-0.31c-0.42-0.163-0.72-0.358-1.035-0.673 c-0.315-0.315-0.51-0.615-0.673-1.035c-0.123-0.317-0.27-0.794-0.31-1.671C4.631,14.688,4.622,14.403,4.622,12 s0.009-2.688,0.052-3.637c0.04-0.877,0.187-1.354,0.31-1.671c0.163-0.42,0.358-0.72,0.673-1.035 c0.315-0.315,0.615-0.51,1.035-0.673c0.317-0.123,0.794-0.27,1.671-0.31C9.312,4.631,9.597,4.622,12,4.622 M12,3 C9.556,3,9.249,3.01,8.289,3.054C7.331,3.098,6.677,3.25,6.105,3.472C5.513,3.702,5.011,4.01,4.511,4.511 c-0.5,0.5-0.808,1.002-1.038,1.594C3.25,6.677,3.098,7.331,3.054,8.289C3.01,9.249,3,9.556,3,12c0,2.444,0.01,2.751,0.054,3.711 c0.044,0.958,0.196,1.612,0.418,2.185c0.23,0.592,0.538,1.094,1.038,1.594c0.5,0.5,1.002,0.808,1.594,1.038 c0.572,0.222,1.227,0.375,2.185,0.418C9.249,20.99,9.556,21,12,21s2.751-0.01,3.711-0.054c0.958-0.044,1.612-0.196,2.185-0.418 c0.592-0.23,1.094-0.538,1.594-1.038c0.5-0.5,0.808-1.002,1.038-1.594c0.222-0.572,0.375-1.227,0.418-2.185 C20.99,14.751,21,14.444,21,12s-0.01-2.751-0.054-3.711c-0.044-0.958-0.196-1.612-0.418-2.185c-0.23-0.592-0.538-1.094-1.038-1.594 c-0.5-0.5-1.002-0.808-1.594-1.038c-0.572-0.222-1.227-0.375-2.185-0.418C14.751,3.01,14.444,3,12,3L12,3z M12,7.378 c-2.552,0-4.622,2.069-4.622,4.622S9.448,16.622,12,16.622s4.622-2.069,4.622-4.622S14.552,7.378,12,7.378z M12,15 c-1.657,0-3-1.343-3-3s1.343-3,3-3s3,1.343,3,3S13.657,15,12,15z M16.804,6.116c-0.596,0-1.08,0.484-1.08,1.08 s0.484,1.08,1.08,1.08c0.596,0,1.08-0.484,1.08-1.08S17.401,6.116,16.804,6.116z\"><\/path><\/svg><span class=\"wp-block-social-link-label screen-reader-text\">Instagram<\/span><\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><strong>Edward Lees<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>__________<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:25px\"><strong>Let It Rain<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">I was the only person in my confirmation class<br>not to go through with it.<br>I had to talk to the pastor,<br>tell him how I wasn\u2019t sure I believed<br>the words I was supposed to say.<br>I think it was mostly because it was so hard<br>to conceive of that greatness,<br>of what might come next.<br>It\u2019s like when one asks<br>what\u2019s beyond outer space.<br>The mind struggles to find purchase.<br>Swimming deep under water,<br>I see air bubbles form and slowly rise<br>in small clusters, rounded from ascent,<br>following their brief unpredictable course.<br>In filtered light, they start to shimmer<br>with something like anticipation<br>for what comes at the surface,<br>where they disperse in a vanishing ring,<br>sky-melding.<br>I wonder how long before<br>some of them will be a bubble again.<br>This is a mirror of rain falling into the same sea.<br>Both disappear into their greater selves,<br>drawn towards a grand returning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">__________<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:25px\"><strong>London Workers<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">I walk between buildings and look up at them like trees. Each is a different manifestation of the<br>same intent. This city keeps growing workers too. We unfold in the damp when the rain comes<br>like dark mushrooms, revealing a hidden truth: there is an interchangeableness despite the<br>individual underneath. Our goals seem different, but they are similar words said in dissimilar<br>languages. We follow each other in lines along the city\u2019s roots, like ants, but without<br>communication, unless it is the unspoken sense of what is expected. When I walk it is always the same way, unless I decide to go one block further on a chosen street, delaying the turn in order to see if anything has changed &#8211; perhaps how much a construction project has progressed. I am marking time but am also searching for the small piece of satisfaction that comes from seeing windows being put in or another floor of girders installed. To bear the repetition, I want to witness that there is a larger goal with my own eyes, that despite each day ending like the last, we still somehow advance, bit by bit, towards the sky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">__________<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:25px\"><strong>Eyes<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Coming back from work I<br>see in evening rain,<br>a seated supplicant<br>whose sunken cheeks speak<br>of choices made.<br>Her eyes, yesterday, glazed,<br>today buck<br>from some new realisation,<br>as if an earlier self lingers<br>after having just woken up<br>from a dream of family<br>and can\u2019t reconcile the divide.<br>Above her, unnoticed,<br>are lashes of light &#8211;<br>grand bounded boulevards,<br>whose lines unhide physics.<br>They come from a rent in the sky<br>behind which lies open greatness.<br>One can only just sense the scope:<br>the planets, the ages,<br>the vast unknown places<br>to which we all belong<br>and that make us whole.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">__________<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><strong>Edward Lees<\/strong> is an American who lives in London. During the day he works to help the environment and in the evenings he writes poetry. His works have been accepted for publication in various journals including <em>Southern Humanities Review<\/em>, <em>The Common Dispatches<\/em>, <em>Potomac Review<\/em>, <em>San Antonio Review<\/em>, and <em>Anthropocene Poetry Journal<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>__________<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"438\" height=\"211\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/01\/boudin-logo-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-15484\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/01\/boudin-logo-1.jpg 438w, https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/01\/boudin-logo-1-300x145.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 438px) 100vw, 438px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-large-font-size\">\ud83e\udca0 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/2025\/01\/28\/petrichor-under-a-sheepskin-coat\/\">Back<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/2025\/01\/29\/written-down\/\">Next<\/a> \ud83e\udca1<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">To learn more about submitting your work to <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/boudin-submissions\/\">Boudin<\/a><\/em> or applying to McNeese State University&#8217;s Creative Writing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/mfa-application-submissions\/\">MFA program<\/a>, please visit Submissions for details.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Let It Rain, London Workers, &amp; Eyes Edward Lees __________ Let It Rain I was the only person in my confirmation classnot to go through with it.I had to talk to the pastor,tell him how I wasn\u2019t sure I believedthe words I was supposed to say.I think it was mostly because it was so hardto&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[222],"tags":[75,145,18],"class_list":["post-18455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-winter-extravaganza","tag-boudin","tag-poetry-2","tag-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18455","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/42"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18455"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18455\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18754,"href":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18455\/revisions\/18754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}