Heat Wave

Hot calm hangs over the city.
People move slowly and speak low:
Gonna be a scorcher today.
I heard, a hundred and four...

Sweltering noon
a furnace breeze fans the parking lot.
I swear you could fry an egg.
Even the bees buzz slower.

Evening and the heat breaks.
Breeze from the west brings cool--
a ghost of a ghost of the distant ocean
not damp, but whispering of damp.

The sun grins at the west window:
Just wait till tomorrow.