Saturday, July 19, 2008

What Summer Feels Like



This is what the weatherman says:
Temperature tomorrow will be 94 degrees with a feel-like temperature of one hundred
and eleven.

And I say
Oh, give it a rest.

And I say
Temperature tomorrow will be July
With a feel-like pleasure of
The knife slipping so easily between the sweet fruit of the ripest peach
And it's baby-skin peel.

And I say
That the temperature tomorrow will be full-on summer
With a feel-like heat you can not imagine,
Sweat washing eyes with stinging salt
During the walk, while pulling the spent squash vines,
While picking the tomatoes, their perfect round
Weight as they fall
Like fate
Into my palm.

And I say
That the temperature tomorrow will be
Full moon hot and
Have a feel-like temperature of
Heaven when I drink that glass of cold ice water
While looking out at the summer phlox
Blooming pink in clusters as big
As a small child's head,
The mango plant reaching far
Beyond its pot
And what am I to do with it?
I will wonder again.

And I say that the temperature tomorrow will be Figs Are Ripe! and
Will have a feel-like
Knowledge
That when I boil them in sugar syrup with lemon
They will grow translucent with sugar and with heat
And that the hot, sterile jars waiting on the counter
Will receive them and that after I process them
In boiling (feels-like...boiling) water
The lids will snap down and pop
And I will mark them on their lids with the month and year,
My hair curling up around my skull in the heat and I know
We will eat those figs sometime in the winter
And then no matter the temperature,
It will feel-like
Summer
Again.

19 comments:

  1. Figs have been a secret weapon on the trails lately, but my favorite part about the heat is that you feel cold when the dehydration kicks in!

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  2. Juancho! That's dangerous! Stop that! I mean it!

    Ms. J. Frogs- how nice of you to stop by and thank you for your comment.

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  3. That happened to me about 3 weekends ago, during a race. It was close to 100 degrees and I had goose bumps and chills.

    Figs are close to the perfect food, aren't they? I bet your kitchen always smells good, Ms. Moon!

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  4. Hie Moonie

    The summer in the UK right now is cold, raining and windy.

    So rubbish.

    I thought we had global warming? But here in the UK it's more like the big chill. Last year was the same. We get winter all year around these days.

    No-wonder the Brits are so hardy.

    I am thinking of taking the family away for a spell - but so expensive to go abroad - and such a hassle with airports etc. Expensive and a hassle with loads of kids.

    Sorry for moaning.

    But your message was great...keep up the good work.

    Luv Mr P

    xxx

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  5. Nicol- you stop that too! Y'all need to drink your water.
    And right now, yes, my kitchen does smell good because Jessie is baking banana bread. It is rare when something isn't happening in there.

    Mr. Pineapples! How we have missed you! I think it's global climate change, rather than global warming. Or something like that. And isn't the dollar so damn depressed right now that a trip to the US with the kiddies and wife would be cheaper than staying home? Honey, there's plenty of really nice warm places right here in Florida that have nothing to do with Disney or Universal or any of that bullshit. But that are genuinely beautiful and far less expensive.

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  6. Ms. Moony, that poem blew me away! I think you should send it to the Weather Channel! I'll bet they'll read it on the air! Seriously, that was some GOOD STUFF!! :)

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  7. Thanks for the tip on how to insert a link without all that http & www stuff! I think I've got it, by jove I've got it!

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  8. I knew you could. My boy taught me. You know my boy?
    http://tallyhassle.blogspot.com/

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  9. Oh- and Ms. Lo- does the weather channel have poetry? I had no idea!

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  10. Ms. Moon,
    That was very, very good.
    Mean it.

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  11. Sister Moon,
    "With a feel-like pleasure of
    The knife slipping so easily between the sweet fruit of the ripest peach
    And it's baby-skin peel."

    Um.. I found that slightly erotic, and even here in Seattle, I feel the heat.

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  12. Wish our weather people talked like that! Great post!

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  13. Brother Ball- that peach/knife image is what got me started on that one.

    Big Lou-
    you are very, very sweet. Mean that, too.

    Ms. Bag- Thank you!

    Funny, when I wrote this one I was sure people would be like, "What? A poem? Give me a break."
    But, seems like poems can sometimes pass the blog post test.

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  14. I think a lot of your writing is already poetic, so this post was no big surprise, but still delightful. :)

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  15. When we have our big family poetry read/ art show you should read that one. And more.

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  16. I can't wait for our family talent night. WHEN ARE WE GOING TO DO THAT? Do you suppose Billy will bring some of his velvet paintings to show us? Or perhaps he can just read us his horseshoe crab haiku.

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  17. Billy could say an ode to My Little Ponies for all I care. I would listen to him talk about anything. I don't know when we are going to do it. I have to get it together.

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  18. Now I understand fully where your fantastic son got that gift of word...I always knew it was inherited, but now I've truly seen it, and it is lovely.

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Tell me, sweeties. Tell me what you think.