Podcast of "reading a letter from war, in summer"

"reading a letter from war, in summer" by Cheryl Wood Ruggiero appears in the 9.4 (Summer 2005) issue of The 2River View. Listen to the poem by clicking the title.

reading a letter from war, in summer

wheels whir and tick
a cyclist passes
dust wakes, rolls over, settles back to sleep

leaves stir and whicker
a late cicada razzes
thunder walks, growls over hills, shudders into heat

by the time I've drunk this sweet cold tea,
and read again your letter that arrived at noon,
fat drops will fall,
then hail

winds will swarm and track
across my face and over seas to shores of sand and lightning-fired glass,
and on and on to where, beyond bulwarks, your heart must--oh, must--still beat