Dog Days

[fdelano]

In heliacal rising,

Sirius heralds days

of sultry, sweaty, unending

misery of heat and bugs

 

for an old Georgia boy

who still hates and resents

the red old hills and slavery

in the plowed fields,

 

every molecule filled

to limits with water

going straight to the lungs,

hampering brain food.

 

I praise whichever god

provides cool dry air

in my refuge, like

being in the ICU,

 

and think of my destitute

ancestors who endured

the endless rows of plowed

fields, accepting their lot,

 

and soon, I plan to wobble

out to soak my withered

frame in the cool water

of my Olympic-size pool.

[dedalus]

You fucker! After all that beastly summer heat and bugs in the Deep South going back to Confederate days you reveal oh-so-casually that you just stroll into the back yard and plunge into an Olympic pool! Never mind. I do a lot of swimming these days to get my leg muscles working again (coming along nicely, thanks) but I have to take a bus back and forth to the pool. Getting on and off the bus has its interesting moments since I can't fall down yet. Of course I can fall down (we all can) but I can't get back on my feet again unless there's a pole or something solid to grab hold of. I go out all the time, of course, because there's no way I'm going to sit at home like an eejit. Just think about it. People in the streets are cool and considerate, especially young girls in their twenties who flash me brilliant smiles. This is the first time I have thrown myself at their feet. OK, I exaggerate.

 

Cheers,

Bren

[fdelano]

What?? You exaggerate? Lordy. Glad I hooked you. I also exaggerate--about the Olympic size, and I can't climb the damn ladder to get out and there is always a leak or some other problem and needs chemicals almost daily. I also have a tendency to fall down, but that's another story. BTW, the slave in the fields was me as a slim boy. Anyone who grew up on a farm back then was a slave, black or white. The mules hated everybody. Equality. I'm glad someone likes you, but the girls are likely laughing. Good to see you're still full of piss and vinegar.

[David W. Parsley]

Not feeling particularly mulish today. I liked it, Paco, but confess to some envy for the pool.

 

- Non-Olympic Dave

[moonqueen]

Even as time speeds by, ever more quickly as we age, this also reminds me that summers seem longer than when I was a child, due to the discomfort of the heat, the tension of tornadic possibility or yet another wildfire, both of which might change lives forever. You've nailed this one, for me. I hate humidity and bugs, oh gods, how I hate insects. I may put in a pool; just took out a pond, but I have room for an inflatable, now, just enough to lie down in and make the neighbors stare.

 

My days of slavery were not 'in the day', but at the far end of my life.

 

Well enjoyed, Franklin.

[fdelano]

Yeah! An inflatable might work for me. I could just roll out of it. lol Thanks, Tam. Dave, you can have my pool, but you have to do all the maintenance!