A dry heat crackles,parches the pale and spiny desert.In the red-rock landsof colossal cloudsthat stride the sky like gods–lit with sunlight, shadows, sometimeshearts aflash with lightning glowsand casting the colored laughterof rainbows in curtainsthat never touch the ground. Warm, essence of sage and mesquite on the air… Dry heat shatters:The storm, relentless,a vivid line between …
Tag Archives: summer
A SUMMER AFTERNOON
Heavy as hot wet flannel, every breath…I hate to sit or move againstthis August afternoon.Sticky-damp, clothes cling,a drag against ambition.Birds, lethargic, dull,sing only if they must,fly ghostlike if at allthrough dusty drooping trees.Cicadas ratchet on and on–maddeningly constant;mosquitoes whineor strike unheard, the devils!Roses overblown and bright,relishing this tropic season,exude aromas heavy and too sweet. I …
CALIFORNIA SUMMER
I lived three summers, age3 to nearly 6, in northern California. This is how I remember it. Summer heat–sweet reliefin darkened hallbeneath the fan,the rumbling wind,the stormthat blew the coolall through the house…I’d catch a chill and die,they claimed.Disbelieving,driven out to play,I’d waitanother chance… Summer feet–freed from socks and kedsnot alwayssufficiently awareof bees among the …
Raw: Summer Creek
Silt settles in the summer creekover hard-wedged woodand the largish stubborn stoneslaid bright and barewhen vernal torrents raged:ripped raw the bed,tore out old banks,walkwaysand little bridges–wild waters shattered, scattered… Recut pathwaysand the landscapein the violence of season’s change. The sun is warm now glimmering over the water where leafy branches gaze and tease the eye:The …
Long Island Summers
I’d go backfor just a moment, perhaps as longas one August day and a night,enough, I think, to relish what I lovedabout Long Island summers. Scents of ragweed,seared grasses, almost-too-sweet rosesin the heavy summer air… Glittering waters,hot, hot sandand tiny shellshiding in the dryingseaweed margin of the tide… Early morningssun like a glowing peachsoft-lit hazy cool’til nearly 10… …
LOOSELY SPEAKING... 