Poet Laureate: Poem 1

A Lifetime Named Solstice

Off season no longer!

Schools out, garden gnomes out.

I have become footloose

with a year’s worth of stockpiled

vacation days.

We don’t grow corn, not with so many

stands selling them on every corner.

I prepare for a classic summer movie

and sticky popsicles, tent pitched

in a noisy backyard.

We watch the seeds we planted explode,

too bad the kids aren’t the biggest

zucchini and kale fans just yet.

Maybe next summer.

Planting is a nod to the future.

Tending to a garden is a gesture of care.

Each spring we think about the summer

meals we’ll prepare, the fall pumpkins.

Each summer night we can’t believe

the sun’s still out, even softly, helping

us make this season sing.