A summer haze floods the lens of my camera
as it sits heavily in my palm,
making me squint and shield my eyes in its golden glare.
The viewfinder finds my children drooping limply on the front steps;
four wilted noodles beneath an unrelenting sun.
Bikes abandoned and forlorn on the sidewalk,
swings still and swaying slowly in the tree;
casualties of the lethargy and lassitude
that slides stickily down their persons to wetly splash
into the sticky puddle of sweat and popsicle juice
at their feet.
The shutter clicks
and we file gratefully into the cool blue shadows,
asylum seekers of the Great Indoors.
