Descending

Part 1: When Everything Was OK

Mr. Featherman
littletown’s weatherman
(voice that’s sweeter than strawberry milk)

Mr. Featherman
littletown’s weatherman
(charming, smoother than chocolate and silk)

Mr. Featherman
no one is better than-
(teeth that sparkle like pink plastic pearls)

-Mr. Featherman
national treasure man
(slipping from sanity, strawberry swirls)

“if you love Mr. Featherman,
why don’t you marry him then??”

“god i’d love to wake up
to his television grin”

we, the children, love him like life
the beacon of light on our living room screens
his jokes melt like pb&j on our tongues
his forecast as comfy as cookies and cream.

𝅳✦

Part 2: When Everything Isn’t

“Good evening, lovely Littletown. This is Mr. Featherman,

(we started to notice)

“Season-to-date rain levels are absolutely dismal…”

(cracks in the ground)

“… Littletown’s 200th consecutive day without rain. This is the first time that’s happened since the 90’s…”

(and cracks in his demeanor [every day it was clear clear skies with a small chance of rain and and even smaller chance of being wrong])

“Littletown, Littletown… FutureCam radar sensors foretell an end to this dreadful drought. Those red swirls off the coast there? Rain clouds— and they’re headed straight for us. Better shake the dust off of those umbrellas if you’re planning on going outside tomorrow morning! This is gonna be the biggest storm of the decade, and you don’t wanna be the one getting drenched.”

(chanting childish songs)

sorry, Mr. Featherman
we’d like to be the ones
standing under thunderstorms
drowning in your fun

(clear clear skies)

playground, 7am
we gathered
waiting for the rain

gray.

(too clear too clear)

nothing fell except our tears
that’s when we realized
that Mr. Featherman had lied

(mr featherman had lied)

we told our mothers
to turn the tv off
and raised our hands to catch him as he drifted from the sky

(as he drifted from the s k y )

mr featherman
littletown’s weatherman
(ruin as quiet as drizzling rain)