Summer in the South

Heat hangs in the air
A heavy blanket tossed
Over the stillness of late noon
Over the world in the dark summer
And the heat that creeps through your window
Slinking between the shutters to
Silently smother you
In a sticky embrace
And the world is a round flat penny
Brown and glinting
Covered with rust

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Olivia Brown, age 13
San Francisco, California
Submitted Independently