A summer poem

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I know summer by the zinnias

Good stock like royalty

They rise and spread and showcase

Hearty practical fingers reaching

 

I know summer by red hornets

Hovering like spycraft above the weedy grass

Dark winged superheroes

 

I know summer by girls who read

in living room forts or strewn across couches

Making cookies and singing songs

With words that rhyme

 

I know summer by the way the light hits

The way he saunters by

The way the dog sleeps

The way I lie in bed for hours in the afternoon

basking in the decadence of cardinals.

 

But mostly I know summer by the zinnias

Cut in vases and spread across rooms

When the short term mind fades

they will still be planted

Forever summer, rising tall toward the sky.

Comments

  1. Thank you, Amanda. Zinnias always make me think of my girlhood home. My parents and grandparents always liked zinnias. When I was younger, they planted them every year.

  2. We plant zinnias every year here – they are such a happy flower. Your poetry rocks, girl. Man, you do funny AND poignant – no fair!