Essence of a Rainy Day

Essence of a Rainy Day

i suppose
it's the role of the artist
to tell us
what a rainy day is
if it's something
to lament
for its dreariness
or 
something to rejoice in
a necessary evil 
of gloom and joylessness
of restriction
that without
there is no
cleansing
or
rebirth

depending on the artist
the same thing
like a rainy day
the same rainy day
can be any number of things
that
with his skill and craft
he vies
for us
to feel 
the essence
of a rainy day
according to him
his imagery
by way of
words or brushstrokes
the rhetoric
of a politician
or clergyman
telling us
the way things are
moving us with gesture and inflection
vying for his 
interpretation of things
to be ours
with his own bag
of clever tricks
for manipulation
just like the artist's
but without as much
conscious
and often malicious
intent

so what's a rainy day?
something of glory
or lamentation?
could be either
with the common denominator
seeming to be
that their
particular rainy day
devoid of artistic embellishment
is just a rainy day

that 
seems to be 
beyond dispute
but there's nothing romantic about 
that
nothing emotional
nothing clever or coy
nothing deep or sublime
nothing to give us the sense
that another day of rain
is anything more or less profound
than just another day
of rain

but it seems
sometimes there's the artist
thinking he's all too clever
that presents it for what it is
or tries to
at its most base
and least glamorous
who presents our rainy days
like a face
stripped of all makeup
not glamorized
or embellished
pointing out
the embellishment
the falsity 
of the face with makeup
while pointing out too
the face without it
isn't anything profound
or sublime
either
it's just another face
without makeup
and to make any more of it
is just as false
as the same face
when it was made up
with rouge and lipstick
so he describes
the face
as merely makeup free
rather than virgin
refraining from the tricks
and cliches
or simply too much the philistine
to possess them
this mongrel as artist
thinking it knows how to shake paws
just cause it's seen 
while lurking in the alleyways
enough of his domesticated kin
knowing how to shake
and it never looked that hard

that dumb
and egotistical mongrel
lacking the instruction
to make things 
like rainy days and naked faces
appear
more than what 
they really are
that mutt
competing against all the 
puffery
and tomfoolery
of the real artists
with all the tools
of colorful language
rhetorical devices
inside their bag of tricks
it's his shame
well deserved
in being exposed as the fraud
scampering off
from the indignity
back to the alleyways
with his tail
between his legs

but don't feel sorry 
for the interloper
for we need the illusions
that he either couldn't
or wouldn't
conjure for us
don't feel bad
cause what we need 
are the real artists
and all the rest
that wanna make rainy days
and everything else
more than what they are
it's a necessary component
of the formula
that keeps us
rolling out of bed
and staying straight
with the bills

so shame on that ornery philistine
and damn him
for masquerading as the artist
curse
that non-deceiver
that uncultured
uncivilized
lout
who puts a rainy day
out there for what it is
shame on him
for not glorifying
or denouncing
all that needs it
which should be
anything and everything
he can get his filthy hands on
shame on him
for not giving us
what we need
which is poetic rainy days
that feel like
so much more
than what they probably are
shame on him
cause too many rainy days
without his embellishments
are just 
too
dull
to deal with
day after day