Editor’s note: This poem was a finalist in the the 2021 Gaithersburg Festival Youth Poetry Contest.

The Rain of Today

The sputter of raindrops
on the steel trash can
breaks the sound of
my nib pressed on the thick
Strathmore paper.
My drawing is full of lurid details
as if shapes and colors can cover
and muffle the emptiness around.
I can almost fool myself into
believing such solitude is freedom.

At dusk, when the rain finally stops,
silence is the loudest sound.
The hollow I’ve tried so hard to seal
feels wider.
Sitting by the windowsill, I count
scattered droplets dribbling down the glass
and wait for the clouds to part.

Tomorrow, things will
surely be better,
I tell myself.

Allison Xu is a high school student in Maryland. She has won many writing awards, including Scholastic Arts & Writing awards, grade winner in Blue Fire Creative Writing Contest, first place in Kay Snow Writing Contest, etc. Her work has been published in Germ Magazine, Secret Attic, 50-Word Stories, and several anthologies. When she’s not writing, she enjoys reading, swimming, and playing with her beagle. 

Image by W.carter, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons