poem of the day 07.09.11

flies of summer

the flies of summer
have come back to this apartment
to drive me crazy
while my hair grows
and the dirt collects
underneath my nails
the flies of summer have come back
to sit on toilet seats
and wait for piss
to get drunk on the tops
of wine bottles
collecting dust
on the scratched wooden floor
the flies of summer have come back
to infest the garbage can
to overrun the litter box
to die on strands of fly paper
hung up like nooses
in the basement
the flies of summer
buzz their love songs
around my ear
get tangled in my hair
are too hard for me to catch
with soiled dish cloths
weighed down by stains and heat
the flies of summer
have come back to this apartment
once again
their thousands of silver eyes
twinkling
on counter tops full of sugar and rot
they’ve come back
to talk poetry
to drive me crazy
or to make friends with these
lonely walls
the flies of summer have come back
as my beard grows
sour and gray.