This heat hits me right in the gut
amplified by sun through windows
we block with curtains and
push away with fans flipped to blow
night air inside at dusk.

We sit out trays of ice the dog steals
and strip down to barely decent,
bodies melted right into
warm hardwood floors.

Fire curls inside my stomach
like sour milk soon as the dew burns off
up until we hear that lone
whippoorwill call from the next holler.

I can’t eat, can’t sleep, can’t even focus
on a book or a movie to distract me
because it really does feel like
the world is burning, and
flames lick at my heels.