August

This summer night's alive
The crickets are drunk
I could water-ski across the beer in my pint glass
The couple next door argues on their screen porch
It's music. Wild, dissonant, human music
And the crickets howl

My dog is running down the sidewalk
He's spotted a racoon in the recycling
He'll come back cut, but invigorated
Sweat slides down my neck
I want to stand in my back yard and sing shanties to the moonight

The smell of a warm beach towel on a cedar dock
The sound in a cornfield after midnight
The girl in high school who stayed at my house
after all my friends had left the party
All of this comes flooding back
And the beer sets it all dancing to a Joe Cocker tune