The Limping Season - July 5, 2025

for six months we are home

to the thinnest T-shirts and

shortest shorts after people

leave the late spring desert

some clothing stores close

for the long summer, others

limp through the season selling

Chapstick, hats and sunglasses

waiting for the first night

to dip below seventy degrees

when a thin woman or older man

stops in to fight off the chill

for storeowners

the first sale above $30

marks the start of fall