segue to full summer
June 11, 2019
last week
we all had colds
the weather was unseasonably cool
we laid light blankets
on our laps in the evenings
and huddled at night in
our flannel sheets
we sipped tea and
homemade chicken soup,
coughed,
blew our noses and
shook our heads at such weather
over memorial day
today
the heat advisory came in at 9am
when the roof thermometer (that lies)
read 104
we closed up the house
and watched the roof thermometer
soar
”feels like 129F”
it’s another good day not
to be on the roof
while the truthful thermometer just tops
the century mark
in the afternoon
a zebra finch chick has an adventure
outside the aviary
while i puzzle over another engineering problem
designed to trip me up
just when it’s hottest and stickiest
i bathe
drenching my hair
i dress in a light linen frock
bare arms
bare legs
and still i steam
in the late afternoon
by 6 pm it’s cool enough
to open the house
but there’s no ocean breeze
no fog coming in
summer’s gears creak
i dust off the ceiling fan
and change its direction
before starting it
i dig the vornados
out of the deep closet
where they live in winter
the fans stir the warm air
”i have an idea!
let’s change to summer sheets
and ditch the winter quilt”
the winter bedding hangs out on the back deck
in the sun all night
and through the heat tomorrow
the flannel bedding overflows the laundry hamper
and we make the bed
with cool summer sheets
i listen for crickets and coyotes
and other summer sounds
through the open windows
of our first hot night