An Ode to Summer

At last month's edition of the Third Thursday Open Mic Poetry Night I read a poem about a child's experience of Spring that I had hastily thrown together in the hours before the reading. It went over relatively well. I decided to do a follow-up of sorts, about an adult's experience of Summer - particularly this Summer. Here it is.


An Ode to Summer

Screw you, Summer
we used to be friends
back when I was a kid playing on the swings
and you were all blue skies and puffy white clouds and gentle breezes.

What happened to you?
Now you're all about sweltering heat and humidity that makes the air feel like soup
not the good kind of soup that your grandmother made that made you feel better when you were sick
but the kind that you drown in when you fall face-first into the bowl after you get smacked in the head with a stray baseball.

You've shriveled up my garden, killed all my flowers
but you're real good at making the lawn grow
and the weeds, especially the weeds, appreciate what you've done

Some people like you, don't get me wrong
they celebrate you with fireworks on the Fourth
and the Fifth
and the Twelfth
and they'd better cut it out soon or I'm calling the cops.

It's not too late
you could mend your ways
you could give us the sort of Summer I remember from when I was a kid
you could, but you probably won't

So screw you, Summer
keep this crap up
and I'm gonna shave my head
and wait for Fall