ma rainey for may rains

This photograph cant begin to capture the sound, the feel, or the moisture of this storm I am watching from under my duvet in my lazy bed, ma rainy crying beside me. This isnt a spring shower- it is a downpour. The thunderclaps get trapped between the maze of buildings here, giving an edge of seemingly manipulated distortion. It doesnt sound like the thunder of Iowa or California or anywhere else that I know, where the waves of sound are free to carry into an expanse of space and dissipate. The last time I saw a storm like this was from the thirtieth floor of a downtown San Francisco hotel room. The solid glass building tremored in the wake of the storm. It was a violent and awesome experience that viscerally reminded of how easily the structure of this civilized world could shatter in the face of nature, a force much greater than the delicate construction of everything we consider real, and for some reason that leaves me feeling gratefully optimistic.