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Brief Instructions on How to Approach a Cloud​

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Should you encounter a cloud near the ground, 

     do not make any loud sounds.  

Wear cotton, linen, chintz. Move slowly, 

     looking down at the ground, 

and try not to speak. Keep your hands 

     at your side, palms open.  

It may please the cloud if you softly hum

     as if to a cranky baby.  

For those who wish to be cloud hunters, 

     dress in white, silver, white.  

Do not wear perfume, body wash, or gold jewelry.  

     If you have eaten an onion sandwich 

do not go near a cloud for at least three days.  

     If a cloud should speak to you, 

wear chainmail. Plug your ears with wax, 

     as cloud speech may damage 

the inner ear. Tornadic poetry 

     has been heard escaping a cloud 

in Portugal, Zimbabwe, New Zealand.  

     Those who have heard the sound

say they cannot forget it.

     Said one witness: It was like holding 

your head in a bucket of whirling starfish.

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John Bradley’s poetry has appeared in the American Poetry Review, Cloudbank, Diagram, North American Review, Pedestal, Rattle, SurVision, and other journals. His most recent book is As Blood Is the Fruit of the Heart: A Book of Spells (Dos Madres Press).  A frequent reviewer for Rain Taxi, he is currently a poetry editor for Cider Press Review.

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