We’ve had a number of heat waves in Boston this summer. Officially described by meteorologists as at least three consecutive days when temperatures reach or exceed 90° F / 32.2° C.

Growing up, we used to say you could fry an egg on the sidewalk on days like these. My dad always said It’s a hundred degrees in the shade! So it got me to thinking about that word, shade.

* Hide not your talents. They for use were made. What’s a sundial in the shade?
Benjamin Franklin

* He’s a shady character!

* Every shade of feeling finds its expression on a face.

* There are shade trees, window shades, shades of color, shades of difference, shades of improvement.

* Synonyms include shadow, blackness, coolness, dusk, gloominess, semidarkness, obscurity, cover, and a wonderful word that rolls off the tongue, penumbra!

* And then there’s one of my favorite all-time songs, written in 1967.  It begins with a wonderful instrumental organ introduction (listen at least to that instrumental intro below).

So today’s Poetics? Easy. Write a poem that includes the word shade, or a derivation of it. Add a synonym if you wish…but the poem must include the word shade within the body of the poem

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• Write a poem as the prompt suggests, and post it to your blog.
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