Exposition

By M. Benjamin Thorne

I always feel sorry
for birds in the rain,
suffering stoically the
drop-splatter on head,
incessant drip off
wicking feather vanes;
But do they suffer? Or
is it simply the is
that exists before the
next one, the leeching
sun sucking back up
the already forgotten?
Maybe. But still I see
through the window,
past my reflection,
the huddled soaked crows
head-cocked, peering
in at me, my too-small
room and too-low ceiling,
and with soft caws vault
aloft, water-spray arcing
forth from out-stretched
wings, taking flight to find
that next dry moment,
and leaving me to mine.

Nominated for a Pushcart and Best of the Net, M. Benjamin Thorne is an Associate Professor of Modern European History at Wingate University. Possessed of a lifelong love of history and poetry, he is interested in exploring the synergy between the two. His poems appear or are forthcoming in Thimble Lit Mag, Last Syllable Lit, Salvation South, Does It Have Pockets?, Pictura Journal, and Heimat Review. In 2025 his work was shortlisted for the Alpine Fellowship. He lives and sometimes sleeps in Charlotte, NC.