This week has seen quite the heat wave in the Portland area, causing a surge in power usage as well as a surge in poetic creativity! A friend of mine, Amélie Rousseau, responds to the rising temperatures.
Beating the heat at SW Broadway & Madison, Summer 2007.
Portland in Heat by Amelié Rousseau
Portland in heat:
A blushing rose, propped up in its ornate vase: wilting.
Rectangular fans silhouette the windows and doors in SE Powell, the west hills, Sellwood, and St. John’s.
“Why pay thousands for air conditioning?” they say.
“It’s only hot in Oregon three weeks a year,” they say.
Tonight a tiny frog darted under my garage door.
Why should it want a night in this concrete hole?
I covet the frog's cool swamp to my hot sheets.
Portland in heat:
A boat waiting to sail: yearning.
Sea legs lost until the river breeze cools,
Only then can it fill its sails again. Freedom.
Other PDXpoesy may be viewed on the PDXpoesy page!
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