Thirteen ways to look at a cloud

About four years ago, I read a Wallace Stevens poem called “Thirteen ways to look at a blackbird”. For a reason, I still go back to that poem. Today, the skies pregnant with heavy clouds, I wrote this poem in amelioration of Stevens’ poem. I hope you like it.

I

dark clouds are faster than white clouds
they skid so fast
uncovering the first scene.

II

clouds are the window to heaven;
when the sun penetrates the formidable wall
Hope is born.

III

layers, different in size
but abundant just the same

IV

the absence of a cloud is celebrated.

V

the presence of a cloud is celebrated.

VI

I drew a cloud when I was little but it did not look like a cloud.

VII

An ever-morphing shape of dust, vapor and rain.

VIII

Clouds are fished swimming across the sky.

IX

When I caught a cloud in my dream, it was soft and i felt safe.

X

the clouds stopped when I looked at the flocking blackbird.

the clouds, revived, moved when I squinted at the bird.
(law of relativity)

XI

clouds are my magic carpet to go home;
i throw rice at my house, and my cousins will dance.

XII

I will become a cloud
and I will carry the rain until, happily, gloriously,
I give it back to earth.
a farmer, a light and a sprout will laugh.

XIII

And if not,
I will write a cloud in the shape of a poem.