21st Century Heat Wave

I want to live

like the sound of spoons

stirring sugar in coffee mugs during a heat wave

emptying through streets on Wednesday nights

with air conditioners rattling on

in windows in late July

spilling out in plaza parking lots

with long lines at drive-throughs

at 3 a.m.

veering into fields of bluebells

twisting in insomnia

as high-rise buildings fall to their knees

and quit

with all of us

Ryan Di Francesco is a Canadian writer and teacher. He is the Editor-in-Chief of Shadow and Sax, an emerging literary magazine, where his poetry and short fiction have appeared. His debut chapbook, The Paper Hound, is forthcoming from Alien Buddha Press. His poems and stories have been published or are forthcoming in The Toronto Star, The Pit Periodical, Ink in Thirds, Bicoastal Review, Bitter Melon, Rawhead, SHINE Quarterly, SQUID Magazine, Azarão lit journal, Emerge Literary Journal, The Orange Rose, The Amphibian, The Page Gallery, and more. He also co-wrote the indie film Streets of Wonderland, which won multiple festival awards.