june sun glinting off shiny cars
foreign license plates screaming
far away american states
children with drippy wet ice creams
barbecues sizzling under a clear blue sky
this june will eventually turn to july
if we let it pass us by

but i think you're quite keen
on holding on to this strange summer
when everything turned from
black and white and gray
to blue and yellow and green
and that mandarin orange colour
the sun makes when it leaves

when you left me that one time
dripping wet in an airport far from home
my world changed from opalescent
to newspaper crumpled wet downtown
fresh cement being poured into
one of those regular rectangle molds

no amount of heartbreak music
and june sun
could save me back then

but i've built myself back
a coccoon shelter around my fragile bones
holding me together with brick and tar
and clay and dirt

and i'll drink moonlight this september
scratch myself inky black
a dazzle of diamond stars
the pretense that i'm alright

let me tell you
you won't want to hold on to this strange summer
when i'm through.