August 2014 – So Cal Yankee

Yearlings

we were running in the evening air

the top of the hill our finish line

both of us panting at the end

she so near to me I tingled

as a mist of breath caressed my cheek

this morning boys jog in the park

a tall girl swings on a low tree branch

yearlings faces not yet marked

they feel the sunlight on their face

dampness of the still-wet grass

later we were together close

in the deepest corner of the empty barn

the scents of hair and skin and earth

all the many colors

of the end

and the beginning

Wet Bulb Thermometer

Usually it’s a dry heat here

but the last week brought humidity

and air conditioners grind on overtime

until the midnight bedroom windows

offer cooling currents of relief

side by side the sheet pulled half way up

we search for pleasing weather words

temperature is nice barometer too clinical

dew point has a sensuous ring

now the wet bulb thermometer

sounds a little twisted for our taste

but it offers numerical measurement

of how a casual arm would feel

laid across the arch of waist

and how a finger will glide on flesh

in a night when skin feels perfect touching skin

and gentle movements quickly leave behind

the state of the wet bulb thermometer

©Frank Kearns 2014