As a child I would watch the weather report
on the evening news
when my parents weren’t around.

I’d copy the weather map,
the fronts, the low pressure areas
so we would know
when to expect rain.

How will the crops grow?
When will there be good drying weather?
Will there be school tomorrow?

These were the concerns of my childhood.

Years later, I lived in a city
and the weather seemed much more remote,
like wind, fog or snow
in poems from yesteryear.

It would be what it would be,
until I moved on a boat
and the storms and tides
became much more immediate.