Rains

Race fans, watching the Cheltenham sky,

Are in Benidorm’s rains, asking why

It made sense to decamp

Near a place that’s so damp—

Staying home would have meant staying dry!

 

Mike Mesterton-Gibbons is a Professor Emeritus at Florida State University who has returned to live in his native England. His poems have appeared in Current Conservation, the Ekphrastic Review, Light, Lighten Up Online, the New Verse News, Oddball Magazine, Rat’s Ass Review, WestWard Quarterly and other journals. In 2025 he won the Children’s Unpublished category of the Eyelands Book Awards with Flora’s Flock and Other Stories to Read Aloud. The poem was prompted by the Independent story “‘We flew to Benidorm to watch Cheltenham in the sunshine – but the weather’s better at home.’”