crazy from the heat

it's been way too hot this past week
100 + F
too prickly to do anything but
go to work
& back
even the walks to & from work
are ordeals
tests against the wherewithal
of human endurance
i get home
i'm exhausted
& the ambient heat
even with air conditioning
creates an air of dolor
that is too thick to beat
this ambience matches
the daily news
of incremental horrors
i can scarcely believe
even so
tonight the heat broke
anna nick & i
took a kayak trip
sponsored by REI
down the cosumnes river
to watch the colony of bats
fly into night
thousands of bats
& thousands of dragonflies
above the river water
that smelled of moss
& decaying wood
while my muscles
unused to paddling 
felt that good kind of
tired that comes from
an exercise
that is situated
beyond the ache of
shoulders & back
an other where
of heat
& of light