SOLSTICE

Humidity grows high and heat holds it tight.

Almost free, chair desk-pupils wriggle loose. An angel cracks

Open a can. A voice breaks. Triple plays transpire. Twilight

Corazon radio sounds, Sonido Suave and tank tops are back

With a vengeance. Sirens intevene. Kid and flirt. Beach

Boys “oldies” with static edges resound. Freedom screams.

Wiffle-snap evening heralds long-awaited reach

Of linden tree, lilac and garbage-scented city June. They careen,

Waterfowl raw-voiced over the harbor. A little perch outside

Goes a long way here, where a fire escape can save your life.

Rockaway Jamaica Bay gulls swoop, drop, dive

Over Gotham waters rough and various and rife

Over which low-hanging humidity hovers. June imposes

promise. Chain-link city fences swimming with roses.

Am earlier different version of this poem first appeared in Burning Word Literary Journal in 2008.