Summer Delivery

Driving home with your vacation beard

You transport a fresh set of July memories

protected by damp beach towels

This cargo has to last 50 weeks

insulated from everydayness

but your car is like a leaky ship

trailing its perishable contents along the highway

at every gas station and toll booth

Yet you drive on defiant

After all, you carry a sunburn, mosquito bites, and your daughter's tangled hair

In the driveway

Your north woods paradise continues on as before

but this time 16 hours from your tailgate

A first -- then a second silence pass before you emerge

to take possession of your past life.  

Staggering into the thick night air vibrating with the mantra of cicadas

You cautiously unlock the front door as if prying open an ancient tomb

Tonight you deliver the soul of your summer

And while you sleep

Spirits of Lake Michigan whitecaps and bonfires under Orion and Cassiopeia  

waft through the house

mingling perfectly with the heap of dirty vacation clothes.

Reviews

[Rita L. Sev]

The joys and simple memories of a great vacation, then slam! Return to reality... An apt and vivid write, John!

[Glen Yumang Manese]

YOU HAVE LOTS GOING ON IN THIS VERSE...VACATION AND THE DILEMMAS OF IT ALL...YOU DID PUT A NICE TOUCH TO IT HERE WITHIN THE LINES...WITH THE IMAGERY...ALL OF US CAN RELATE IN SOME FASHION OR ANOTHER WITH THIS ONE...

[rutherford]

Thank you Glenn. Was one way to cope with the annual end of vacation blues about a very special place in my life.

[Glen Yumang Manese]

THAT'S ALWAYS A GOOD WAY TO WRITE IT DOWN...AND REFLECT...YOU'RE WELCOME...

[Pryde Foltz]

Great piece of Americana. That vacation feel so hard to hold.

[rutherford]

Thanks Pryde. Nothing is more predicable that end of vacation blues. When I was a kid, I used to bring home a small jar of sand and one of water from Lake Michigan.

[Angi]

Ha! Only 50 weeks, eh? Hopefully those visions that come in slumber will be enough to head off the insanity until you can escape again. The heap of dirty vacation clothes had me grinning. I sorted mine not too long ago. Wonderfully done, Rutherford. So glad I found a new poet to like, I love to creep on fresh pages! Angi~

[rutherford]

Angi, I'm long overdue to say thanks for reviewing me as newbie. The vacation blues hits me without fail.