by Ally Schwam

I created the rain.
It’s one of the first things I created.
Two years ago I started as an assistant
at the Creation Center and then a year later
got promoted to junior programmer.
The first task I got was to program
what a higher-up called “rain.”
Rain was just water that would fall
from the sky every now and then.
It was a nice first project to work on.
I thought rain was very beautiful and pleasant,
especially the sound design. The pitter patter.
Turns out that rain was received poorly–
no pun intended. The Human Emotion Rating
dropped an average of 3 points on rainy days. That hurt.
They tell you during training not to take it personally,
but I couldn’t help it. I thought about it a lot,
especially during the weekends.
Too much free time to think, too much time
for guilt. What really stung, though,
was the report we received on the human invention
of something called a “shower”.
The report stated that the shower was a sort of pipe
set up so that it would sprinkle water on a human’s head.
It was a huge success with the humans.
I was livid. During the report meeting,
I slammed my fists on the table.
It’s just rain!
They just created rain!
I didn’t come back to work
for a while. I stayed home and slept
and tried not to think about it. The more time goes by,
the more I can understand, though.
The shower was their creation.
And I understand how easy it is
to fall in love with your own creations.
Maybe I’m just not cut out for this kind of work.

Ally Schwam

Ally Schwam is a poet, artist, and professional UX/UI Designer. Her poetry has previously appeared in Tupelo Press’ 30/30 Project, UMD’s Literary Magazine Stylus, and Poetry WTF?! She lives in Bethesda, MD.

Artist: Nicola Esposito