summer nights

it is hot outside tonight. the air seems stiff. i hear a siren in the distance. blades of grass feel like shards of glass under my bare feet. i walk over to the driveway and it is warm.

all of these senses take me back to my grandparents. i remember sitting on their porch swing watching the stoplight change. sometimes i would listen to the radio. another time my brother and i draped a sheet over a rusty swing set for a makeshift tent.

i like this time of year. i walk back inside and get into bed. before i know it r.e.m. takes over. my childhood is rekindled. i am inside that homemade tent and hear the traffic pass. i fall asleep inside my dream.

it is hot outside tonight.