Innocence Lost Poem by jason brierly

110 degrees in the shade
With
40 percent humidity...
Sweating bullets
As the soles of my sneakers
Melt,
Forming to the blacktop..
Secreting sweat
Through my pores
As though water through a sieve...
As I peel my shirt
From my back
I feel a weight lifted
As my sopping wet shirt
Slams with a liquid splatter
To the ground
Followed swiftly by
The sizzle of
Boiling water's evaporation
Upon concrete...
A statically muffled A.M.
Radio station
Broadcasting through
Decrepit speakers
'It's the top of the inning, bases are loaded...'
The day's big sporting event...
A heavy weight Of saturation
Looming Mid air,
Bending distant stop signs...
Illusions cast
To remind you of the
Extreme discomfort...
As I reach into the cooler
For a luke warm,
Half drank bottle of water
Floating atop the
'Used to be' ice
I see a group of young children
Jumping rope...
Perfectly content...
None the wiser
Of the wasted youth
They face.
Innocence lost....