When Summer Belonged To Us

Unidentified Photographer, [Two unidentified girls, one eating watermelon, the other disrobing], ca. 1960 (2012.24.1) from Fans in a Flashbulb

When summer belonged to us,

we shot out of school doors like pinballs

pinging off trees, porches, each other,

racing toward imagined jackpots

We lay in the heat,

hair and freckles bleached with lemon juice

and tasted the tang on our skin

We shucked Silver Queen on front steps,

the silk sticking to our fingers

and stealing nibbles off the cobs

We grabbed thick slices of watermelon,

ate them down to the rind,

sweet juice dripping down our wrists,

then spitting the seeds

across crabapple dappled lawns

We set the pace of our days

to suit our moods

and lingered under street lights

well past dusk

Feigning deafness to the calls of parents,

we schemed our next scheme

There was always another tomorrow

when summer belonged to us.

submitted for Imaginary Garden With Real Toads, Elephants Dance In Fancy Pants-Get Listed

Amy Leigh

source

You can't take the buzz

outta the bee

And you can't take the want

outta Amy Leigh

Her mama fed her honey milk

whenever baby cried

Now she got a bad sweet tooth

no man can satisfy

All the boys keep tryin'

to make her keen on them

Amy Leigh kissed one or two

then tossed them right back in

Her daddy tried to beat the want

outta Amy Leigh

He just wore out his own damn hand

gave up and let her be

The preacher called her sinner

said she gonna burn in Hell

Amy Leigh just smiled real nice

and said, "Well then, I will."

Coz you can't take the buzz

outta the bee

And no one's gonna take the want

outta Amy Leigh.

submitted for Poetry Jam, The Buzz on Bees

Summer Jane

source

Summer Jane

comes with the wisteria

Her autumn chestnut hair

grows a crown of auburn as June rolls on

The girl ripens with the summer

Her cheeks pink

like a peach

and her sweet scent draws the boys

like bees to soda pop

Summer Jane loves them all

She writes their names

in the margins of her dime store paperback

Tells them

the cicadas sing at night

just for them

Most times, they believe her because 
she tucks a magnolia blossom behind her ear

and paints her toenails red

and she’s so damn pretty

No one knows where Summer Jane comes from

or ever sees her leave

but just like summer,

one day she’s gone

Everything is a little less bright

and the breezes blow a little colder.

submitted for Imaginary Garden With Real Toads, Open Link Monday