Audrey Rose

but if not for rain, who would I talk to?

o’ rain you’re such a show-off
you like to show me up
you stand me up
you disappear
you wait for days
for me to water
with my little blue
watering can
so heavy it is for me
I have to use
two hands
a little man-made
plastic cloud it is
I didn’t know clouds
were so heavy
you watch me from
your castle-cloud
you wait
before you pour

Audrey Rose is a MFA student at the University of South Florida, and she served as an art, comics, photography, and poetry editor for Saw Palm: Florida Literature and Art. Beyond poetry, she is passionate about STEM and earned her BA in Mathematics. She was nominated by USF for the 2021 Best New Poets anthology, and she currently supervises the Math, Science, and Business Tutoring Center at Hillsborough Community College. When it comes to sweets, she probably loves chocolate chip cookie dough more than actual cookies, and she likes to live by George Carlin’s quote: “Don’t sweat the petty things and don’t pet the sweaty things.”