A Routine Malaise

“so help me god”

I like to undress myself alone With the blinds open, lights on

Standing naked In front of strange audiences

Peeling off layers of certainty And tossing it to the floor beside my dancing toes

I like to put on a show For cars speeding passed

Honking horns and flashing lights As payment for my heinous two-step

My smile so devious and shameful That I can’t help but smack it off my face (applause from the crowd)

The anonymous home-wrecker they call me With my provocative dancing for passers-by

Wives scolding mesmerized husbands Sitting dumbfounded in the street

a full evening in summer

warming blood through sun tongues;

french kisses

introduce the fall

with cold lips 

like metal school chairs sharply protruding

into the skin of your under-thigh,

electric;

a constant reminder of the saccharine glow

from the melting summer,

also 

a greeter of fresh chills

effusing from the open fridge;

leftover melancholy

from winter nights before

lingers in the air,

juxtaposed  with free samples

of sweet, thickening breezes,

although it is losing flavor,

the memory of the taste will remain

beneath the white blankets,

🌳 save the trees