Dreaming under the striped awning-
My favorite pastime during summer thunder storms
When the air is slushy and dense
Like a milkshake too thick to suck through a straw
Not an anomaly for Pittsburgh weather

Composition books jammed with lists
Numbered lists
Of secrets
Safe between the covers

Sometimes the clouds burst
Releasing torrents of rain
That cascade off the striped awning
In my peripheral vision
While I write

Recording ambitions
Fantasies
Love
Often dreamed of
But not encountered under the striped awning
Exotic, romantic places
That anxiously wait
For me

All this I pack into lists
My lists
On papers that will never reveal
Secret dreams confided
That pull me far from
Dreaming under the striped awning