(music to read this by, let it load and start, trust me on this one…)

the heat, the weight of a summer day yoke
the intense concentration to hallucinate
the air above
the asphalt groves
a belly dancer, undulating
a snake charmer, hypnotizing
the air
like a stagnant pool
shade retreats
looking for itself
the air
so damn still
a pin could drop and never hit the ground
statues sweat without pigeon feet
the silence of the wild
is the sound of retreat
as night, sweet quench-cold drink, approaches…
lies just out of reach
fierce the brave thunderstorm
would be a most welcome site
I consider melting
into a puddle
instead of the sweltering
boiling in my own skin
even a lemon ice
is a blink reprieve
how I wish and beg for
the night to draw
the earth to yaw
how I yearn for that sweet refrain
oh, the coming of the night
if only for the time
so I might close my eyes
and delve into that sleep
to gather back my rivers
for the coming day
and flow into an endless ocean
carried on a dream
on the calm cool ocean
a feathered kiss
a breeze…

notes… I wrote this out on the porch tonight, it is what I do, or have been doing for a year now, damn, it is so much better in the summer, sitting out on my perch… er, porch, just riffing with words, this is all off the cuff stuff, some slight word changes but all written in a blink tonight, in the moment, could I perfect it ? hone it? hell yeah. but that is not the point, the point is raw, deliverance, me, my thoughts, you dig it ? great? not… well I still wake up in the morning… I think…

and if you did not get fair warning, shame on you… van halen was once the king of the damn world for a time… there was something about the maelstrom, the collection of those guys at that one time and the times at hand… all I can tell you it was a thing, I imagine that is why the Stones still tour even though I think they are completely droll…