A feeble breeze
luffs the blind
like an impotent sail

August probes a tongue
at the edge of open
windows and doors

insistent cicadas
draw ragged lines on summer
and scrape at eardrums

inattentive
in the darkened bedroom
I surrender my head
to crossed arms
and the scent of old linen
beg for solitude and sleep

over the sound of lawn mowers
the opening of a car door
accompanies the silence
of a more familiar engine

he is home
and wants his dinner

©2006, Janet Taliaferro

“Summer Room” appeared in in Vol. 20 of “The Northern Virginia Review“