I went outside to smell the heat. 
Walked a shady pathway to bathe 
in cicada siren, droning
harbinger of June.

Skin, blistered, and pinched in friction.
A thick veil of wild pollen rough
to my asthmatic lungs. 

Drinking the glory-beaming sun through
maladjusted eyes. 

The daylight like honeydew, air
tacky, and sweet like spilled cola.

Smiling families with children,
and bright-eyed, eager, dogs. 

Sunglasses, and cheap soccer balls,
lost to the underbrush, today
a memory to be made.