City Pond

A letter was circulated by a Neighborhood Watch Group advising us to steer clear of a near-by lake. That's all well and good for us humans but what about other critters?

City Pond

Earlier and earlier in summer

a cauldron of vichyssoise

thick with pea-green algae appears.

Ducks on logs preen, clean

feathers dripping with chlorophyta.

Turtle hatchlings dragging slime

slip and slide on rocks.

From a willow a kingfisher

watches the water below, flies away.

No fish? Poor visuals?

Parks and Rec pound

              "Toxic Algae Warning"

                          signs into the ground.

But the wildlife can't read.

Marilyn Aschoff Mellor

High Pressure

The high temps we've been experiencing and the number of deaths due to the heat make me realize I am so lucky in any number of ways. 

High Pressure

Heat smothers the days,

                         the wind chimes silent.

         Mirages scuttle away useless.

The scorpion sting of summer threatens

           me in a cabin without AC,

     a get-away deep in the north woods.

In cramped flats and in single-wides

neglected neighbors sweat in silence,

count on modest fans to provide 

                                               the remedy.

But when small blades do not stir enough

      air, I purchase something bigger

with nary a thought for those who cannot.

  The disabled, the elderly living alone

in airless lodgings suffer another misery

      and privilege buys me ignorance. 

Marilyn Aschoff Mellor