Thursday, 5/6/10 - A Young Boy In Summer

A young boy in summer
is the echo of sneakered feet
racing down school hallways
and the crash-banging of double doors thrown open
admitting sunshine
and exiting children.

A young boy in summer
is the run, run, running to unravel strings and tails
into the blue, blue, blue sky
and the how-did-that-happen look
at the knotty pile
beneath the kite
as it rests after its flight.

A young boy in summer
is fields, yards,
sandlots, stadiums,
driveways, alleyways,
streets and courts
where balls are kicked,
hit, tossed, bounced,
thrown, pitched, caught
and rolled.



A young boy in summer
is the rookied rumble
of clothes-pinned trading cards
poked into bicycle spokes
and the wadded bubble gum grin
of peeling out, skidding to a stop and popping wheelies.

A young boy in summer
is bare feet
dressed in fresh mown grassy green.

A young boy in summer
is comic books
from cover to cover
and older brother magazines
breasts, butts and beavers uncovered
discovered.

A young boy in summer
is citronella scented nights
porch swinging
story swapping
and mosquito swatting.

A young boy in summer
is trees climbed
and too many apples
crisp and green
picked and eaten
while hiding in their shaded branches.

A young boy in summer
is shooed but never shoed.



A young boy in summer
is a swig and a cig
and an of-course-I-did
when in fact
he never had.

A young boy in summer
is clouds
puffy white look-likes
pointed at and declared
while lying head-to-head
with three friends.

A young boy in summer
is rain-soaked and puddle-stomped
mud-caked and grass-stained
scabby-kneed and sun-browned.

A young boy in summer
is the squinty-eyed emerging
from buttery popcorn movie theater darkness
into melty ice cream mid-day brightness.

A young boy in summer
is the one-one-thousand,
two-one-thousand counting
between lightning flash and thunder clap
and the storm's approach and retreat calculated.

A young boy in summer
is the quenching glass bottle coolness
of cola, orange or grape
pulled icy wet from
from backyard barbecue barrels.

A young boy in summer
is full moon graveyard dares
doubled before they are taken
running scared and shaking
from ghosts imagined
and those too real.

A young boy in summer
is glass jarred wonderments
snakes, salamanders,
lightning bugs, lizards,
today's tadpoles, tomorrows frogs,
crayfish, crickets
held in with air-holed lids.

A young boy in summer
is fishing holes and fishing poles
bread-bait, worms and hooks and bobbers
reels and creels
shiners and sinkers
flies and lures and hula-poppers.

A young boy in summer
is skateboards and roller skates
rivers and rope swings
bees and birds and birds and bees
comics and crab apples
fireflies and fireworks and camp fires
tree forts and tents.

A young boy in summer
is the glinty eyed
sunshine smile
of an old man in winter.