homebody

Sweltering morning. Birds
announce a funeral's grief,
deepening this delicate June mood.
The window stands open a crack.

Sitting in the backyard making
typefonts from grass blades,
sweet iced tea sweating on
the worm-ridden picnic table.

There’s an intentional accident on
Fifth street, tires screech. Walking
on. Weeds will cover abandoned
schools, ivy on education and mind.

Bring on the heat,
the clammy dusks of blushing sunset.
Mosquitoes vortexing sluggish columns
buzz through it with Popsicles, those

fluorescent icicle imitations.

We think of knitting hats for winter.
We dream of frozen snow angels, reveries
of miniature ski hills compiling
on frost-sealed windowpanes.

And hardened tire sludge, cracking and gliding—
Braking cold with a panicked skid, swerve—
Exhaling two smoky fumes, rapid,
he’s intact for another autumn.