August in Texas

[Sue Littleton]

THE HIDDEN GARDEN
Thom the World Poet (101º in Austin)


in this heat, it is wise to hide
seek water where it falls,crawl under leaf
like melon,cucumber,squash,pumpkin
your vines may reach into the trees
these beans are slim as sunshine, green as weeds
last tomatoes shrink to pebble proportions
stray butterflies and bees add to the symphony of wasps
in this battled field for competing nourishment
August scorches all with solar indifference
we squeeze little strips and bulbs from the within
the root system that seeks its own survival
Metaphors wilt and sweat with the work in hand
What harvests come will soon be desert and
wise ones are those who seek the shade
Interrogatory heat questions every blade.

AUGUST IN AUSTIN
Sue’s Answer

Ah, yes! I recall
cringing in my apartment
praying the AC would keep on AC-ing
trembling with trepidation
with the very thought
of going out the door
into that scorched landscape
beneath the pulsating sun that reaches down
from a molten white hot sky
and whacks you on the head
with a solar thimble
leaving you staggering around
like a drunken sailor.

Ah, Yes! Austin in August ...

[Doreen Peri]

This is a duet? Meaning the first piece is written by Thom and then your repartee?

I like both of the pieces very much, both full of imagery and a strong command for the language, plus fine phrasing....

Will you please invite your friend, Thom, here so we can read more of his work if he wants to post more?

It's been a scorchingly hot summer here in Virginia. The hottest in recorded history. Pretty soon it will be 'normal' for 100+ degree days during months it used to be in the 80s. I fear the human race has really altered the climate for good. Watching the news of weather all over the world the past few days.... flooding, fires, severe storms.... it should give us all pause. They've been telling us these types of weather patterns would be coming for years..... but still many don't even believe it's true.

Anyway, as always, thanks for your poetry and vivid imagery. It's nice to have you posting here at the studio. I admire your work.

[hester_prynne]

Two very different voices make for a tasty poem.
H

[mnaz]

palpable. you can feel the sticky, drunken heat. here in the (humid) Northwest it actually hit 103 last summer. first time I can ever remember that happening . . . It was brutal. Made me appreciate desert heat by contrast for sure . . .

[Sue Littleton]

Problem with that Southwest Texas desert dry heat is the reverse side of the coin --the incredible cold when a blue norther comes blowing in from Canada ... ♥♥♥