I can’t think about summer enough.
The gooey melancholy warm inside me like
FAT Krinkle-Kut French Fries dipped in ketchup
In between pool games and juke box stuffing at Marcel’s drive in.
First flirtations confusing me, “second base, outside?”
as the tired as only tired from swimming all day can be,
“Hey you have to wait 30 minutes after lunch before you go back in the water.”
wraps me into a screened porch Euchre game around a dusk mosquito Twi-light.
Contented warmth from a day long, face full of sun and water
Arcade competition, BINGING, taunting bells and whistles,
flipper mania stimulation
Baseball games nervously anticipated –
thrilled competition at catcher, action, control, tenacious.
Walking journey into an abandoned coyote bone stripped silo,
on a trip for souvenir personalized pocket knives
still in a dresser drawer to this day.
Scuffling with farm boys “Hey watch where you’re walking, where you from??”
evolves into a lob league pick-up baseball game full of new friends.
Skateboard speed wobbles, road rash crash
Rainy moisture scented monopoly marathon mornings
Nostalgia as sticky as barbeque ribs follows me around the
solstice Jupiter, star bright Venus, cobalt fading, special light sky.
Summer camp romances evaporating to clouds even before they begin.
10 speed Schwinn cruising, girlfriend on the handlebars
Crickets and cicadas sing in the mesmerizing
County fair humid hazy fog of a carnival night
lights flash, Bells ring, Carney’s BARK,
the water pistols hissssssssss, the Demolition Derby ROARS.
Enveloping me in all the innocent honey dipped funnel cake sweet memories
blend into the mind’s eye.
A loop of 8-millimeter home movie celluloid forever ingrained in me.
I can’t think about summer enough.
Martin Soosloff, from Lyons, prides himself on being a keen observer of the Human Condition, continuing to explore through words, the irony, nostalgia and emotions that make life interesting, unique and beautiful.
