summer

6/23/06
each summer the last summer. -denise levertov, "living"

each summer the last summer
the only remembered summer
in retrospect
the one so eagerly
anticipated
& then so uneventful
like a puritan striptease,
a withered erection,
the kentucky derby:
Each summer the summer
most sacred
Each summer the summer
it did not rain so
much the summer before
because Then is turning
to accommodate Now
with small movements like
the fluttering of birds' wings
& every night the world
ends
the way scientists warned us it would;
what is it about
summer
that is so evanescent?
each summer
the last summer.

//

a summer calm laid its soothing hand over everything, like death. -sylvia plath

//

6/7/07
there is daylight
on the water
there are remnants here
of gods
who have gone
before