the heat takes the fucking life out of me.
my soul seeped out in tiny trickles
from every last pore today.
i’m sure of it.
i felt my essence evaporate

and disappear
lost to stagnate in the dead air
and draw mosquitoes,
denied even the simple dignity
of a damned summer breeze.
i sipped the sweat from my upper lip
and the salt on my tongue
tasted familiar.