Prayers for Fall

a poem

I welcome summer when it first arrives
And admit to dreaming 
About it for much of the year
When the weight of my coat becomes 
An intolerable burden and my misery 
Crunches beneath the boot 
In icy, dirt-smeared craters

When summer finally hisses its breath my way
I strip off my clothes and dance in its glory
Savoring the salty perfection
Of sweat beads on the rim of my lip

As the days crack the pavement
And lash our backs like flaming switches
I still lie to myself that this is heaven
That at least I'm not cold
As shivering was a constant state of my childhood
Sodden beaches and ankle-high muck
Forests so wet that the impotent tree limbs
May as well have been Hollywood props

I came to hate the rain and the cold
Though now, I crave it, like a secret addiction 
A needle full of glacial water
From the North Fork Skokomish
That with one hard, clear shot
Could do away with this endless summer gasp
Once and for all