No Air Conditioning by Andy Quintana

(based on one summer humid night back in Moreno Valley where I had to sleep with no power whatsoever)

Surrender! 
Close your eyes...
LIE...everything is fine...if you just Lie still and breathe deeply,
Stop seething beneath your seedy defeating overheating!
Pleading with the universe will not revive the air conditioner--
But oh sweet Jesus, the humidity-- 
Such anguish of my unanswered wish,
Gratefully calling...

Executioner! 
Follow my trail of tears and sweat!
Beget my regrets I often forget as admission for my early requested untimely death!
I ache for swift relief, to let my assets reset back to that cold shower--
For exactly one hour, I savored the cold water soaked from the lavour,
Surely heavens forbid I cower in over-lather my lengthy skin shielding my bladder, but--
Alas the end, as Linkin Park ballads, doesn’t really matter,
The nightly temperature, one-hundred and five, my soul.. ruptures--
As the city’s infrastructure experiences disrupture of electricity,
I no longer shock at such thoughts of stability, 
Truly quitting this unprovoked battle,
And Upon my mantle, the clock stiff still, ill-mannered as to say:
“Straddle-up! Tis’ night’s straggled tempo shall be dreadful”,
Gruelly said...

Yielding!
As I lay in bed, Lying ‘everything is fine’, 
Attempting to ignore such loud roaring silence,
Quiet trance... 
Insects romantically prance this nightly dance upon the outdoor plants,
My hearing enhanced, 
The neighbors vulgar chants distance-ly track along the cul-de-sac,
My trapped laughs blasts through the hushed air as I relapse back into my current circumstance,
I relent this night, my window indiscriminately bestows blaring blowing sirens-- 
Wailing alongside many questionably-close-by violence,
Perhaps it is due to this drought, 
Though I doubt such jail cells provide the icy-temps many, as have I, sought after,
My bed takes no longer to get hotter, to not bother with my frozen body,
Minutes mutate shuddered seconds into years,
Fears bear my rage, 
Slowly my folie overtakes my surrounding property,
Sickly-sticky-stuck upon these sheets, 
I contemplate possibly fleeing from this inherent heat-- 
God-Almighty...

Relinquishing!
I cry at the thought of lost sleep upon an impending defeat,
Why of all nights does circumstance pile on my obvious plight I no longer wish to fight?
Tonight requires rest, 
Tomorrow-- well, surviving it will be the ultimate test,
Tossing, turning, a threshold shall be stubbornly discovered,
And at long last, I now best a side of my warm humid-lowered nest, 
Although I confess how the mattress is now such a mess-- 
I can now peacefully slumber,
Life confers my request, lest my obsession allows to recommence,
I reflect upon the many past summer nights--
History often repeats,
A self-reflected smile upon my face furthers shut down my internal file server,
Eyelids drooping,
Lungs breathing, 
Cells repairing, 
REM-sleep inducing,
My warm skin slightly touches an outside breezy cooling, 
Oh such a faint melody I cling to-- 
So enchanting, so soothing, 
Now as I can now dream, I LIVE, 
I lie to not lie,
Everything truly is fine,
As I now surrenderly close my eyes….
…
…
…
Good Night.

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