Heat

Strangers

sitting on the train
I look across the aisle and
see you as you were
–
hot city streets-
a stranger wears
my memories

dark attic corners
within an old cardboard box
dusty memories
–
summer boardwalk-
sepia toned
memories

well gone past midnight
swimming in the rain, lightning
off in the distance
–
scattered clothes-
midnight at the
swimming hole

a copse of willows-
long verdant tresses brunette
in the evening light
–
prolonged drought-
green pastures
turn to dust

a great streak of fire
across the afternoon sky-
shattered panes of glass
–
the small hours-
lawn chairs and
shooting stars

oars carve the water-
echoes of my lover’s voice
from the other shore
–
pale skin freckled-
fingers threading
through the water

searing hot asphalt-
children splash in the water
from a cracked hydrant
–
heavy branches-
in the shade
a rope swing

a laboring fan-
august heat makes fonder my
memories of snow
–
summer sun-
my verdant lawn
sere and brown

atop cotton sheets
the drone of the ceiling fan
keeping me awake
–
sleeping dogs-
paddle fans spin
in lazy circles

white scrims of sea foam
gauzy and delicate as
a dragonfly’s wing
–
seaweed-
sun dried by
the high tide line