One night during a heat wave this past summer, I got to thinking about a similar heat wave during my internship at a newpaper in Henry, Ill., in the summer of 1977. These are the sights and sounds of one very hot day right after the Fourth of July. 1977

The bright morning sun

pokes through the riverside trees.

It creeps over the horizon

while playing peek-a-boo with

the old skeletal bridge.


The temperature goes up,

its close on this steamy July day,

as a conveyor belt carries feed

into an elevator, it clatters and grinds,

as it carries the powdered grain into the bin.


A pumping house motor

whurrs along under the

tropical midwestern foliage

as the Illinois glistens and meanders along.


On a lazy day after the Fourth,

the bank clock hits 103 degrees,

as a pair of roustabouts sleep

on their truck before taking down the circus

in the hidden village square.


One sleeps in the bed,

one on side in the shade

On a hot day in Henry.