Drought

By Louise Kim
— golden shovel after Jack Kerouac, “The Taste of Rain”

Fat droplets riddle the parched dirt. The
tongues deep within the cracks in the earth taste

the earthy nectar with glee. Of
all the treasures in the world, rain

is the most sacred — Why
else would saint and sinner both kneel?

About the Author:

Louise Kim is an undergraduate student at Harvard University. Their Pushcart Prize- and Best of the Net-nominated writing has been published in a number of publications, including Frontier Poetry, Chautauqua Journal, and Panoply Zine. Their debut poetry collection, Wonder is the Word, was published in May 2023.