I pick
her flower
that our
furnace wouldn't
inhibit May
with her
caveat that
this winter
really corners
any merchant
cavities allure    
then made
sweet dear
wine in
Hawaiian orbit
in days
of yore

It was 9 a.m. and already 95 degrees.
I wished for a pool of ice but
instead I swam in a shirt drenched with sweat.
This was my first summer here.

At 10 a.m. I realized this drought,
this cracking, dry, unwarrantable heat,
might burn away the doorway hiding
away any signs of forgiveness.

11 a.m. lulled by,
heart beating dizzily in sync with the
fan spraying my skin with sickly sweet stale air,
habitually smothering my body’s hasty pulse.

At noon
I knew I couldn’t linger any longer.
Detrimental integrity leading a rope to
the next state over.

One o’clock came and
for just a second, there was fresh air,
or so I thought. Maybe You are what
made up that canopy’s cover.

I couldn’t wait until two, there’s always
some reason to stay.  Time to make due
and evaporate like sugar dissolving in the cracks
of the asphalt burning our toes.

“What’s my middle name?” He asks me.
In seconds I answer him, confident and with a smirk.
A sound of surprise breaks the silence.
“My birthday?”
Again I answered.
The day he came into this world was on the cusp of spring and summer,
A joyful entrance into the universe that bridged the gap between the blooming of flowers and the beating of sun.
What a coincidence that he made flowers bloom within my chest
And then left me to bake in the heat of my cheeks as they turned red with the embarrassment of not being good enough for him.

dull treacle melting against the pavement
cicadas hissing in the heat
an occasional breeze is a ragtag flag
fluttering before going still

syrup sitting warm and heavy on your tongue
soda fizzing flat and falling sharp
a sour note to end
a miserable heat to begin the day

hot humidity pressing down
wind humming in protest
sweat dripping slick and tacky
eyes slipping slowly closed

until
the heat
ends

Of sleepless summer nights
And lazy days at noon
The sun stays longer
Before rousing the moon
From a frozen sleep
When midnight  wanes
Shortly after sunset
But the light outside still
From the sleepless city
Dawn burning till come again
No real darkness to call to sleep
No comfort cold to steal up
On limber haunches
To call the hour
And ***** the lights out
Instead of this
A warmth unfamiliar
That calls for a coverless sleep
And the stillness that holds
For the hazy summer

High in the sky,
The sour rays scorch the drifting sand
which rubs raw against the lonely stretch of land.
It watches over this abandoned place
and listens to the splintering screams of the wind
which whirls the dust into the brown skies.
Lizards scuttle across the rocks that slowly cook
beneath the beams,
while snakes slide through the dry lakes
that shimmer and gleam in this hazy dream.
Time ticks.
The evening sun trudges across the sky
and the tall stones of sand extinguish the flames
until pale grey turns to deep blue.
Stars scatter the sky like tossed diamond dust
while the moon tiptoes up, like a thief stealing the warmth,
breathing and freezing the burnt rocks below.
The owl cracks the cold with its call
and the Desert is alight with a fresh glow,
until the sun returns to defrost the night once more.

biting, split, bleeding, brisk
cracked lipped kisses with our
vicious morning breath
enamour me, as if the words burn
on the tip of my blistering tongue
i'm so full of stifling love i've begun
bursting at the seams,
i want to be back between those
freezing cold sweat soaked bedsheets
with frostbitten feet, chattering teeth,
cold hives the size of icebergs,
i find it hard to breathe
in the sweltering heat because
you make me blush
so much.