Editor’s note: While we seek to maintain a no-poetry policy on the opinion pages (and believe us, readers, you should thank us for that), there are times when what needs to be said can be expressed in no better way.

Hey Artscape organizers, why’d you choose July?

When heat (and tempers) flare and lightning flashes in the sky?

We’re forced to stand on fry-pan streets and creep from stall to stall —

Why can’t you give us Artscape in the fall?

Breathing in the code-red air is certainly unwise;

We can’t appreciate the art through stinging, burning eyes.

Maybe it’s performance art? A mass crowd-sweating thing?

Why can’t you give us Artscape in the spring?

There isn’t shade to speak of and there aren’t lots of chairs,

So folks get in and out — and that’s less time to buy the wares —

I think that you should cater to the “lingerer,” not sprinter!

Why can’t you give us Artscape in the winter?

Don’t get me wrong, I love most everything about this fair,

I tolerate the traffic. Lot of goodwill happens there!

I hate to be the cranky voice, I’m sorry I’m a bummer:

But why the #!&*@% is Artscape in the summer?

Janet Combs, Baltimore