Summer Wash

with coffee thick with sugar
almond cookies on a cracked plate
the humidity clings to their words
red flowered cotton dresses
they shout out their laughter
giggle like the girls they were
slap at their damp thighs 
at the punch lines
about husbands 
old lovers 
birth
their hearts lighten 
as the sun hangs high
in curtains thread worn
clothes on lines flap in a thankless jersey breeze
and their amazements continue into singing amore
cheeks running with the salt
of sicilian 
tears

jppestana
summer wash
5.30.18