Outside working long before six a.m.
A  late morning’s ten o’clock bell rings out
Heat so hot you’re driven indoors
When everyone meets back inside to catch a breath
And once again we all make it back outside anyway
To stand underneath backyard hundred-year-old shade trees
Where cicadas sing and
Crispy brown shells are easily picked off
Kids and adult heads touching low hanging branches
We stay there waiting for hot breezes
Then you know it’s a high summertime day
We youngins’ stand with Oklahoma red dirt
Between our toes
And in one hand
Drinking iced cold lemonades
While Grandma’ beads line our necks and
Water drips down bare-chested fronts
Leaving a trail behind
But you really don’t mind
Because it feels so good
Then you know it’s a high summertime day
A hard bright sun bears down on you
And causes more and more sweat to run
You blinking your eyes shut
Everyone takes shelter on the shaded front porch
And make provisions for ice
Ice in ice-trays from mommas kitchens’ icebox
Ice wrapped in wet towels ready for careful placement
Laying them on the floor in front of
Two oscillating fans
And we all laying down on our quilted palates
As your brother ices down your feet anyway
Then you know it’s a high summertime day