Summer Blues

Oh SummerYou Bacchanalian bimboDivulging the neighbor’s nipplesAs he sweeps ‘cross his carpet of sod.Oh SummerWith your runners runningHumidity oiling abdominal obliques.Plan as we may to stay clad,Comfort defeats all modesty-Shorty shorts in the produce aisle,Speckled cleavage in canned goods.We’re on display—so many bare chassis—Old and young, no shade fromYour stank, your sun-washed tremors.Oh SummerYou devilish trickling rivulet ofPerspiration ‘tween butt cheeks,Crackled leg veins like flooded riversIn stubbled deforestation.I want to wear pants, you spoiler.I crave knit scarves and sweaters.Your swatters of flies andWing-borne disease be gone.Some summers ere past you were free, lazy daysGarter snakes and toadsStrawberry barefoot ripe tomato cookoutPopsicle cantaloupe squirt gun fireworksKayaking cloud shapes running in sandReading all dayDouble feature drive-in.Don’t think I don’t remember,But SummerYour seductions are blatant to a wizened eye,A seasoned half-century palate.You’re bad for a blue-eyed, Irish-whiteGinger bedecked in freckled constellations.I’ve no defense against you,You brilliant hot-air buffoon.Oh SummerSomeday your storms may kill us all,Wind tearing off what’s left of our clothes,Tides submerging home and land.It’s not melodrama, comparing your ways to the end of days:Heat’s apocalyptic when you’re the ant under glass.Oh SummerYou beat-boxing threat of early death,At least you give us gardens.We can vegetate in rootless, fruitless yearning,Long for a cool brush of mothwing.Summer, I was born to your embrace.Still kicking and bawling, I yield,Casting off garments and hair,Till I’m just as I was when we met-Simple and raw, at your mercy.