Color of Heat

Linda Simone

August 13, 2023

Unlike aubergine fleece 

soft against bite of New York winter

or warm salmon sunset 

diffusing Miami shoreline

or chili-red oven filaments 

intent on baking a pie

or the mercury snake

at fever pitch—ready to strike, 

in San Antonio, 

this June, July—forever?— 

sky flames orange, 

skin glazes in deep bronze sweat.

Only the prickly pear,

its small suns

atop wide green arms,

is left standing. 

Linda Simone’s publications include The River Will Save Us and Archeology. Her poems have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, most recently in The Path of Birds (Flying Ketchup Press, 2023). She also paints watercolor miniatures on recycled tea bags. Originally from New York, Simone lives in San Antonio, TX.