Summer Rain

After July’s heat wave
now a steady rain. Tapping
on the treetop canopy
as temperatures drop

reminds me of the end
of summer in the Sound
Beach bungalow.
On the clothesline

nothing dries before
or after rain. Books
smell of mildew,
notebook pages curl.

Every surface damp
as dew. Scents of earth,
rotting wood and leaf mat—

fragrance
of childhood summer
alone with mother.

Joan Mazza worked as a microbiologist and psychotherapist, and taught workshops on understanding dreams and nightmares. She is the author of six self-help psychology books, including Dreaming Your Real Self (Penguin/Putnam). Her poetry has appeared in Crab Orchard Review, Valparaiso Poetry Review, Prairie Schooner, Adanna Literary Journal, Slant, Poet Lore, and The Nation. She lives in rural central Virginia and writes every day.