Summer Has Yet to Fade

The fan has been whirring all night
All we can talk about is the heat
Windows wide open
Fan oscillating back and forth
Summer heat has yet to yield
to cooler days of approaching autumn
You drink and you drink
and it doesn't matter what you drink
your body continues to sweat and thirst
Some miles away a fire consumes
swaths of land as if collecting
on a debt that had yet to be paid
Some will ask
Why me
Why us
The better thing to wonder is
Why us
Why not
Dawn has broken
and the relentless sun
is readying itself
once more

Fearful

You who wish to be free of pain
You who hide from the heat of day
You who wish to be in comfort
Hiding away
Hoping the world will pass
and these discomforts
will not reach you
How foolish those hopes are
Life moves forward from you
Your muscles will atrophy
Your heart will grow fearful
if you continue this way
You will die a death
before your heart gives
and all thought and memory
leaves your mind
Live now
Suffer through discomfort
Find truth within
Do not let this pass by

Dripping with the heat of you.

Echo Park Summer

Haze of heat 
My body covers itself in sweat
The city seeps into the soles of my shoes
and I breathe it out

Walking the streets
choked full of youth on such
a summer day

I am as old as I have ever been

Lingering Hunger

I wake but do not eat.
I let myself empty
as fully
as I can
before anything
is consumed.
The morning blazes
across the brown
grass. We both thirst
for incompatible
reasons. My tongue
assumes the quality
of sandpaper,
like the tongue
of a cat. I will rid
myself of thirst,
though, I will let
my hunger remain.

Welcome to Summer

It was the first heat wave of summer to hit the city,

windows were open everywhere there wasn't an AC

unit. Fans recirculated hot air.


He was sick of sitting around the house and feeling

sweat for doing nothing at all. He put on a pair

of sandals and a shirt and walked out the door.


The key slid into the car door with no effort.

A small rush of hot air greeted him as he sat down.

The seatbelt clasp closed as he let the parking


brake go. There was a stretch of empty road by the

beach that was going to be perfect for this drive.

The dashboard said 11:16 p.m.

Summer Canines

Pity our heavily-furred friends on hot summer days

as they swelter in their skins. Coats built to endure

harsh winters to conserve warmth, not the rain 

parched climates of former and future deserts.