strawberry frost and

August 18, 2006 5:01AM

musty cellars.
dusk alongside
eight PM.

furtive chill,
pouring gutters,
murky pearls lathed in
shuttered dust.

step-around sprinklers
shuttling dog-walking dawn,
empty plastic pools and
book-bag-anxious dreams.

peppered lemon B-B-Q’s,
forked hold around late
summer gasp, needle
twinge of lawnmowers passing.

prescient digits,
thermo-coupled gradient
downcline,
thumbs in sun-chafed grass.