fall is full of figs
and spooky season seasonings
and i’m beginning to like the autumn
because the heat of summer here sure is oppressive
and everything feels like it’s
waiting
but here comes the doing
the happening
the season that gets busier and busier
and i feel like
maybe
i can find myself
before it gets too cold
august slips in
unassuming
hot and lazy
and fading summer away
till the end when it startles us
with our first few colder mornings —
the days still heat up
but the air around us breeds
change
that we should have seen coming
Three Musings on Summer Thunderstorms:
the sky darkens to post-sunset dusky grey
and a lightning bolt passes by my window
the rumble of thunder
the stream of rain
and this summer storm is at it again
[i love this weather]
~~~
thunderstorms make me smile
interrupting the daily toil
of sunrise and shine and set and night
darkening a summer morning
or lightning-flash-brightening
midnight pitch black,
sounds escaping our atmosphere —
booms and cracks and the smacks of hard raindrops
cleansing the air
feeding the ground
offering greener hues when the showers subside
and summertime just isn’t summer
without
~~~
drench me in rain
fill my ears with thunderclaps
and my eyes with bright bolts of lightning
let me taste a summer storm
and offer my nose the delightful scent
of petrichor
as the pressure changes
and my heart grows
and i know
i’m present and whole.
summer is for hot hot sun
and sticky nights
too much sunscreen making not much difference
in the plight of red faces and needing shady spaces
and ice cream melting all over your hands
and lazy moments where the clock seems to stand
exactly still for longer than a second
a minute
an hour
and looking out over some green or body of water
can remind you of a moment of your childhood
or make memories of cartwheels and babies
in a town you’ve never visited
and may never come back to again
but that’s june for you,
that’s what summer is meant to do.
outside
writing morning poetry
in the afternoon
listening to the sweet melodies
of trains and planes and crows above me
and the puppy pacing to keep up with everything that needs investigating
i do kind of wish we would have spent more time outside
before the weather turned from mildly warm
to HOT
and this isn’t even the hottest it’ll be
not even close
but
we’ll deal with the sweat
and embrace the sun
[or hide underneath the sail of shade]
and let the puppy play with us
and keep the cat
well hidden
inside
from afternoon
outside time
sudden raindrops
out of a halcyon sky
[so cloudy
it mimics
a deep clear blue]
one drop
then two
then a few
only on me
only on me
until they start to fall
on kip
and computer too
and we walk
swiftly
(but don’t run)
back home
to enjoy this summer storm
in peace
and
coverage
help me see —
one and one and one make me
less likely to spend time outside
but more likely to desire that vitamin d/
sunlight hitting my pasty skin
i see only lobster burn
i see only carcinogen —
but knowing i could be out
knowing i could walk about
that is enough to balance out
my extreme depression
into something more equivalent
to simple summertime sadness
(but
what happens
when the weather turns
again?)
tho no one
likes
the un-airconditioned train
i still smile to myself
every time a new group enters
and makes the same
“awww, nahhh/no!”
when they realize
the car they’ve chosen
will only increase
the nyc heat
it’s the little moments that show —
we are more alike than we are different
why do i yearn
for the hot hot hot climate
yet once it’s here
in my own back/front/side yard
i’m exhausted
can’t sleep
can’t wake up
walking feels like swimming
and breathing feels like dying
but i know
once it gets colder
my body rejects the climate
in other ways
(as does my brain)
so i suppose i’ll just
be a sleepy ball of sweat
for the next however many months
and enjoy not being a depressed icicle with nerve-pain
for what seems like
every
single
day
till the end of time
the temperature
is supposed to get
all the way up to
97 degrees
i’ll be spending some time
in manhattan
so it’ll probably feel like
107 at least.
and in the subway system,
underground,
waiting for the train,
oof, maybe 137
but once i’m on the train,
the a/c blasting
will make me shiver
like it’s the middle of winter
(unless, of course, the air conditioning is broken
in whichever particular train car
i happen to enter)
(and i have to decide
on clothing
to fit all those
scenarios…)
(summer in the city is no joke)
