rings in riot time

your summer began

at calendar heat

but mine was two

rainless prisms

l

i

n

g

e

r

i

n

g

above the canyon floor

scattered god rays

and glimpses into cosmic eyes.

weeks later, it was seedling rain

lightning whelks in watery sky

and only yesterday,

I found gold coins in pewter

its trail

sp     —

—        lit

fell as water from a grayed-out star.

through misty sunbeams,

iris watched us race down the freeway.

your riot time between mammary storms

was an eager expression,

summer swimming in after-storms.

a promise made in earthen glow

shaped you as a dimming star,

millions of light puddles on the green,

like the coda of a bonfire, long

hot weekends, and rain in the distance.

you

a mere glint on my purlieus.

my summer

sees wedding bands

drawn round the sun

a completed bow

a vow of the season

and my role within it:

to drink light

to look up

and from the dewy-eyed earth,

to breathe.