August

August 2, 1996

In Florida, late in summer,

yellow is the color of reminder:

the cloudless sulphur butterfly;

the poplar leaves, dead scrolls on concrete.

Always the repetitions,

the sag of sunstruck palmetto fronds,

of the bright, new ties of college boys -

yellow the patch of poisoned crab grass,

yellow the stucco, water-stained.