summer rubs salt into her cheeks.

she wipes her hands on tablecloths sticky

with honey & feathers sluiced in wine.

she prowls the fields for fruit,

shreds their fleshy underbellies by the

light of a candle immersed in ice.

& summer is ballooning in a slow song

as evening splatters onto summer & canvas

grey dress. she singes the ends of her hair &

lets the milk trickle down her neck, pool in her lap,

all to drown the noose of ash & grass.

alone in a shimmering meadow, she coaxes

a fat snake into her gut. a field mouse

licks the sweet air coiling around her.