Nov PAD Challenge Day 6: "Looking for..."

the meadow just outside our property in early autumn

Our prompt for today's Nov PAD Poetry Chapbook Challenge (Day 6) is to write a poem with "Looking for..." as the title. So with the summer weather we've had this past week (like downtown San Diego with a high of 100--a rarity), I find myself looking for fall, hoping it comes soon as the summer heat drains me, sapping strength and robbing thought. But I push onward, trying to write.

Looking for Autumn: A Poem of Southern California
the heat gasps, shimmering
faint mirages across pitted asphalt.
the mercury pulses upward,
measuring July rather than November.
yearning for cosy fires, cups of
comforting tea, velour throws,
we instead consume lemonade,
beads of sweaty condensation
forming against slick glass.
tonight we "fall back," adding
an hour to our sleep, beckoning
dank darkness, acclerating
day-dawning. the leaves swirl
from yellowed locust branches
despite afternoon swelter as
I await autumn's slow arrival.

Copyright 2010 by Susanne Barrett

Pushing myself to write,