Summer Reading

Here in Ohio, I’ve already experienced 90-degree weather this year several times, so I can tell you with authority: I still hate it. I was built for the whispering caress of the Scandinavian sun, drawing out freckles with its tiny kisses, not the angry North American fireball that leaves me “pink and itchy,” as I say in my poem “How to Carry the Moon.”

I’ve been leaving the house mid-morning on most days, to go work away from cats and other distractions, and the light feels all wrong. Like the day is all noon, at that hot overhead angle, for fourteen hours. Like there’s a giant magnifying glass right above me, like the sun learned from karma how to keep its eye on me and it’s focused and I’m melting.

Hate it.

Luckily, the indoors has air conditioning, and that’s where writing and reading happens. I’m still working on my next poetry collection, that’s ongoing. But this summer’s secondary goal is reading. Indie authors and local, mostly, but I’ve joined a few book clubs, too. So if you notice that I perhaps don’t post a blog or send out a newsletter before September, know that I’m submerged in words if not in pool water, trying to escape the clutches of my solar archnemesis.

Happy summer, and happy reading!