like life turned back to normal
on this hot summer day. People crowed
together like oysters on the half-shell
primed for eating whole after sitting

on the ice. A little tabasco
is nice. I, red as the pepper
sauce waiting for the toss back into
the thick of things. Wasn’t it a

sour spring. And I, flying this summer
off-roading like a Hummer. For the past months
cooped up like the chickens in their cages
waiting to sit next to the mashed potatoes.