Beatrice

16

this is the time for running
across sewer grates and
praying the metal beams haven’t
rusted as much as we can see from the cold
front last October

there are flies in the kitchen and
flies in the bedroom and it’s not
until the first week of August we find the
crack between the
window and the AC
unit

we smell of week old charcoal and the fabricated insides
of drugstore shower caps;
.....sweat and flaked skin,
.....decayed honeysuckle, sweet,
.....and
.....sick

now is when the stores put out water
melon ice cream and water
melon cola and you’re pretty
sure if you drank any more you’d start to
bleed Red 40

now is when mama gives up on her diet
and papa drinks a six-pack a week,
so there’s a constant pleasant buzz
to remind you to forget about the rotting pine in
the back yard

this is when we pray to the crickets
outside our window and the
raccoon that’s been on the road for
two weeks,
.....and our feet are wet from the morning dew
.....when we let out last night’s lightning bugs
.....to die in the first freeze