Metrics (Music and Poems) for Floods

My current situation:  I've been listening to variations of Sam and Dave's "Hold On."  I didn't realize that Jerry Lee Lewis did a cover--well to be honest, I didn't realize how many people have covered this song.  I assumed that nobody would dare, because the original is so perfect.  Still, this version by Hanson has some perky charm.  But my favorite might be this finale at the 2002 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction--wow.

I have always loved this song, not so much as a love song (although it's great as a love song), but as a "the apocalypse falls on your head, but we'll get through it" kind of song.  Regular readers of this blog know that apocalypse is never far from my mind, but my beautiful sleep last night was disturbed by an emergency alert from South Florida, so I woke up this morning thinking of floods and the house in a flood zone that we no longer own.

I am feeling both relief and a bit of survivor/escapee guilt.  At the same time, I'm aware of how many fires are burning across the southern Appalachian mountains.  I'm not worried about my house, but if it should rain, I won't be sad.

It is such a relief to live in a place where I can watch the rain roll in and not feel dread.  I know that I had some phenomenal luck in being able to leave South Florida, and I'm grateful.

Update:  I left this blog post and went for a walk, and with the music of Sam and Dave in my head, I actually did a bit of jogging on the flat stretch coming down from the entrance road to the lake.  

And now, time grows short, so let me repost this poem and a link to the post that talks about the book where it was published.  Dear Human at the Edge of Time:  Poems on Climate Change in the United States.  These days, it seems more relevant than ever; the inspiration for this poem came from a similar rainfall event in December of 2019:

Higher Ground


On the last day of the year, Noah’s wife waits
for the insurance adjuster.
She thinks of the Christmas flood
and the larger flood before it.

Her husband’s god speaks
in terms of measurements and building
instructions. Her husband’s god gives
out directions and punishments.

Noah’s wife has always heard
the subtle messages, the daily
communications that the men
ignore: how to feed
the family, how to comfort
the forsaken, which breaches
need repairing.

Noah’s wife studies
real estate listings and elevation charts
while she waits
for the insurance adjuster.
She should be researching
vehicles. She already knows
what the adjuster will tell
her about the drowned car.
She seeks answers
to the larger question
of how to find
the higher ground.