After the Nap

It's a flat summer day the sun pushes down hard so it squeezes the color and the juice out of everything Her body lies between me and the small attic window It's hard to breathe in here between the heat of the roof and the warm dark curve of her side she is turned toward the window "Lie still," she says. "Go to sleep." Tonight it will rain When the window is dark sharp jagged lightning will flash outside the screen where mosquitoes come and go Loud claps of thunder will crack open the sky like an eggshell I might be able to see through into morning! Big fat splats start to pat on the roof gradually increasing comforting in their irregular melody Thunder gone lightning gone the roof is slowly stretching and cooling