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The smell of rain


6 November

As we left the elementary school where my colleagues are running a Global Cultures Club in an after school programme, using books to develop global awareness, everyone breathed deeply and said it smelled like rain. When we got to the car we could see it had indeed rained, and I realised that I could smell the scent they were referring to. I guess when rain doesn’t come often the scent is very distinctive. It reminds me of one of my favourite Hone Tuwhare poems:

Rain by Hone Tuwhare.

I can hear you
making small holes
in the silence
rain

If I were deaf
the pores of my skin
would open to you
and shut

And I
should know you
by the lick of you
if I were blind

the something
special smell of you
when the sun cakes
the ground

the steady
drum-roll sound
you make
when the wind drops

But if I
should not hear
smell or feel or see
you

you would still
define me
disperse me
wash over me
rain

And then the following morning as I walked to the pool  for my first swim in Arizona, there was a thunder storm and hail! When I finally got to the pool it was closed, but opened soon after everything had settled and the day went on to be as warm and clear as usual!

Comments

  1. Unknown9 November 2019 at 10:42

    Awesome reading this Nicola. Makes me realise how much we take rain for granted in the Waikato

    ReplyDelete
  2. Unknown10 November 2019 at 19:37

    Wow Nicola! I think there is a distinctive smell to rain and I believe I can smell it when it's coming. What are your usual temperatures like in Arizona? We have had some hot sunny weather in Hamilton recently and the rain that arrived yesterday (Sunday) was quite welcome. Especially for our newly-planted garden overseen by Chris Eames. Unfortunately the rain did affect the Armistice celebrations planned in Cambridge over the weekend.

    ReplyDelete

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