screech jays mock the summer long
black-blue feathers litter the lawn
el perro negro se camina al lado de la mariposa
whose herky-jerky flight embarrasses its pretty preen wings
and it is us, now,
in the full steam of summer
the mushrooms rise overnight
and the sun, steam flay them belly-up-open
them sticky virulent phages lack relent in their nightly rages
and smother the easy erring greens
once-lush that honeysuckle come black and blue
the sky she aches to drop her surrender-raised, rain-filled arms
and she, too, like the butterfly that lands wings down
is embarrassed at shame-barren
and will not let go her bundles