the flowers

...So I'm going nowhere
and thinking of harvesting
dandelion greens
I went next door
saw ancient faces
smiling/frowning
flowers/crows
kind words
and dark
utterances
from small minded
old women
eyes
sunken
breasts sagging
hair an iridescent white
the man who talked to me most
over a plate of chicken and salad
was musical
there seems to be be
a global tribe of musical
people
that all know each other
by sight and smell
and attire
I told him of Luggage Store
and he told me of kindness
with his smile
and conversation

The room was full of
grandmothers
and grandfathers...
I took a seat feeling
like a character in a cartoon 

a child with an imaginary skateboard

I sat and ate my chicken
and talked about every-day things
It was a good time
I went home
walked the dog
talked to the dog
passed my neighbor
in his red shirt and hat
painting the fence
and chipping away with
his nail gun

The air is full of heat
heat that won't go away
heat oppressive heat

we remind each other
that the forecast says
"it will cool down in a couple of days"
I wonder if it really will..

I hold my tongue (in mixed company)
about global warming...
(don't want to be sanctimonious)

I sit in the heat and drink mint tea
out of a large lidless grey pot

My dog basks in the heat and curls
a black furry dot on the couch

I call everyone I know
to say hello

I watch documentaries
on my netfilx TV

My mother calls me
and we talk talk talk
till the phone heats up in my ear
and "I have to hang up"...

This day is a hot long slanted
yellow smear of sweat and flowers
and hours, and hours, and hours....