Emoting Summer Vibes
Hello gentle readers! Behold, a peom of summer. A lot of my poetry is off the cuff, often I sit an think of a thing until an idea forms (a bad way to start as most of my thoughts direct into the same path) but it’s rougher than a published piece. This is my process of avoiding burnout and writer’s block so without further ado, here it is:
If you asked my what summer felt like as a child, I would’ve said a bike ride:
Small inexperienced hands grip the rubber of the handlebars and fatigued legs turn peddles down a small street, the wind smells of yesterdays rain and melting tar from the sudden extreme heat, my eyes (only recently plagued by glasses) squint the sun into a #efbbcc curtain, everything seems new and exciting.
But I’ve killed the child I once was,
replacing her with a pessimist forged by world news, global warming, and war.
Summer smells like an overheating planet ready to restart. It’s the inbetween,
rocking to and fro with the laughter of the breeze,
heating the mind to distraction in the scent of lilacs and ice cream,
the prolonged warmth quiets the soul with the promise of peace.
I dreamt of lake water and sunburn; shocking my body in the crispness of moving evolution, my hair matted and clinging to my hace in an unattractive but contented way as the sun dries water maps into my skin. I dreamt of waking to the harsh sounds of chickadees and bug buzz; the tea I sip swallowing that little bit of leftover sadness from spring digested into adventure.
I dream of surpassing my limit in the cheerful way summer does, my knees will ache and my lungs will squeeze themselves to wring out those last bits of air,
but the grass is soft under my feet and my first view of the sea heals the blisters on my ankles.
It all seems too easy to sink my feet into wet sand and breath in the air I’ve dreamed about since I was a bike-riding girl.
I wish I didn’t kill the child before she could shape my anxiety into adventure…yet her body is carried with the waves, deep into that sea of dreams.
