Reprieve
High summer after the lilacs and it feels
Like the days never end. The morning
Glory seedlings have just begun to nose
Their way onto the poles, furred vines
Sentient as snails. The dog luxuriates
Sideways in a rectangle of sun, only
Moving to nip the air when a bumblebee
Trundles by, furbished in gold.
Flightless chicks open their throats,
All hope. The sedum is only green
And green. The apples, too, and hard
As marbles. Everything is only about
To happen and you are here turning
Cartwheels in the grass as I turn the pages
Of a book I don’t intend to finish.
Come sit with me and I will be your shade
Tree as we rock on the glider through
The long afternoon, adrift on the river
Of the cicadas’ stretching, spectral tune.
Maggie Dietz is author of the poetry collections Perennial Fall (Chicago, 2006) and That Kind of Happy (Chicago, 2016). Read more.