It is raining. Maybe not.
This is a poem, after all,
not a weather report.
Some kind of report, though,
water dropping through sky.
Perhaps danger,
a slick highway,
or beauty, a rainbow,
or playfulness,
a child splashing mud,
a mother questioning a dichotomy,
and squelching a false choice:
cleanliness or godliness.
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Working through this poem:
This poem begins with a clue, the title: ‘Adam’s Name’. If you Google it you will find the Hebrew
meaning which helps dis-cover this poem’s meaning. Poems are not factual reports. Words have
literal meanings, but they also suggest other possible meanings. This is not a factual weather report,
it is trying to disclose some truth through poetic association. Many things could be associated with
rain, among them; danger, beauty, and playfulness. The poem ends with a mother making a decision.
On one hand, she does not want her child to get muddy. She has been taught the old adage
“Cleanliness is next to godliness.”
She catches herself before imposing the dualistic ideology that it is better to be clean than have mud
on your skin. She looks at the adage in a different way, not helpful but harmful. She regards the meaning
of Adam’s earthy name.