That Summer
The roof
burned continuously.
I passed long hours learning
the names
of various shades of blue –
Air Force blue, cornflower blue,
Persian
blue, periwinkle.
Night came early where I lived
with my
mother and three brothers
and no one to read me to sleep,
though
the herd of clouds grazing
at the end of the street would always
lift
their big, shaggy heads to listen.
