Summer: Three Ways

By Dorothea Grossman

1.
I’ve been learning English
all my life, so I’m pretty good at it,
but every summer brings
my throat and brain
new challenges.

2.
Here, where rain is so rare,
I’ve lost my sense of smell,
but late at night,
under a sheen of oil
that feels very much like rain,
the city tastes like fish.

3.
Sometimes, in my green retreat,
the weather makes a joke,
with early falling leaves
and snowy flowers.
It’s August;
nothing will change
until we tell it to.