WHO SHALL HEAR THE HEIGHTENED VOICE

of summer soaking in grimaces 
and sunlight beaming around 
river oaks and walking 

under yellow night heron nests 
instead of running and no crinkled 
water bottle buried inside

a pocket somewhere somehow 
which is a speech full of being blown
over, orange wedges dribble

relief on the tongue while inside 
and to thank the fountains 
sparkling, a playground of gurgling

sprays, knowing their rich seeds 
seep the dry cracks on earth, not 
to soak or weigh down, more so 

to splinter the early morning, 
for the walker, who walks the raw air
in sidewalk shade, then luminous.

John Milkereit lives in Houston, Texas working as a mechanical engineer. Milkereit has since completed an M.F.A. in Creative Writing at the Rainier Writing Workshop. His poems have appeared in literary journals such as The Ekphrastic Review, San Pedro River Review, and The Comstock Review. He has judged various poetry contests and has been nominated twice for a Pushcart Prize. In 2025, Kelsay Books published his fifth poetry collection, The Beginning of Undoing.