Summer Night

Poem by N.L. Holmes

Light floods out the open door
into the cashmere of
an August night.
Crickets pulse.
A wind-up bat flits
from black to black, a bee
in ebon flower of blind flight– 
no darkness to the ear. 
And I, too, hear: a frog, a distant owl,
the howl of neighbors' dog.
Above, to me without my specs,
the stars spin, fling
pinwheels of flame, and
Sagittarius lobs an arrow
into the marrow of some
far-off galaxy.  No moon.
The slumbering sky will hum 
morning into being soon. 
Behind, the brightness of 
my neat kitchen flares. 
Before unrolls the sable stole 
of summer air.  
My shadow is
the only one.

N.L. Holmes is an archaeologist and author of thirteen historical novels set in antiquity. She has published poetry in Shark Reef, Poetry Breakfast, and elsewhere. She lives in France with her husband, two cats, and a barnyard full of big birds.