{"id":11284,"date":"2026-03-13T08:19:34","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T15:19:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/?p=9751"},"modified":"2026-03-13T08:19:34","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T15:19:34","slug":"a-phalanx-of-rain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/a-phalanx-of-rain\/","title":{"rendered":"A Phalanx of Rain"},"content":{"rendered":"<!-- wp:themify-builder\/canvas \/-->\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A phalanx of rain<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">marches down a Coos Bay beach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Elmer and I meander in formation,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">minions of a gray legion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I am soaked to my shorts<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">this winter morning<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">at lightless dawn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I should have worn the pea coat,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">woolen armor,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">a grizzled veteran<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">of a quarter century<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">on the Oregon Coast,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">repelling, absorbing<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">gallons of rain<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">in silence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Instead I wear a fancy jacket,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">useless, noisy,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">made from petrochemicals<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">that won&#8217;t fill my house<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">with the aroma of a wet dog<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">when it dries by the fire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We pass the homeless encampment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A man emerges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He waves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">(We&#8217;ve met countless times.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I say <em>good morning<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He&#8217;s wearing a green robe and plaid slippers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I laugh. How can I not?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Where&#8217;s the pipe,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">burning an exotic Scottish blend,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">spiced with Jamaican rum,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">trailing wisps of smoke<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">slaughtered by the phalanx?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I see the man yawn,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">rain drops the size of pennies<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">streaming across his face.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A phalanx of rain marches down a Coos Bay beach. Elmer and I meander in formation, minions of a gray legion. I am soaked to my shorts this winter morning at lightless dawn. I should have worn the pea coat, woolen armor, a grizzled veteran of a quarter century on the Oregon Coast, repelling, absorbing [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9752,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,11,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-meditations","category-of-walking-in-rain","category-poetry","has-post-title","has-post-date","has-post-category","has-post-tag","has-post-comment","has-post-author",""],"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11284"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11284\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}