Good bye sweet July

Remnants of July blew down my front street today,
like a parade of ghosts riding erratic tumbleweeds

gossiping gaily in the distance

I felt you as heat against my bare skin;
a half bitten ruby cherry squirting lusciously on my tongue

the sonic swell of distant tourist traffic rises
like covered bread dough in Grandma's country kitchen

summer swoons in a billowy dress,  a little drunk again
on her own delights

as the parade of frenetic ghosts shake sunbeams loose
through delicate fingers of pine

the sudden solitude fills an unquenchable loneliness

a fiery arbutus exhalts its arms toward the endless blue sky
as a drenched dancer sweating their prayers

good bye sweet, sweet July--

your hand brushed my neck so softly
the hairs stood on guard like a platoon of soldiers-

just the bare impression of you
brings me to my knees.


-N. Hoeppner, jul 31/2016