BUBBLE YUM

Gregory Street

Summer days begin them all
Purple banana seat down the hill
The taste of ponytails in my mouth

Railroad tracks

Indentations of our hidden treasures
Scar our legs like ancient ornament
A leaf for you, a beetle for me
History held captive in the hot July rocks

Fallen log

Tightrope dare across lovers’ initials
You walk to the other side
While I straddle my fears inch by inch

In the glen

Forgotten tunnel of cool dark waters
We slip past the bars like convicts
Hello. Hello. Hello.
Moldy wet cement answers back

Just a girl

Baton twirling
Becky Rudd
Bell-bottoms
Bike trail
Bubble Yum
Cocoons
Doorbell ditch
Elm disease
Erik Thorsen
Fallen log
Fossils
Grranimals
Ghost in the graveyard
Gregory Street
Hidden Playboys
Ladybugs
Lion cage
Mallots
Monkey bars
Paddleboat
Railroad tracks
Raspberry patch
Rope swing
Shaun Cassidy
Sheet tents
Skateboard
Teeter-totter
Thoreau school
Three sisters
Tree fort
Tube tops
View-Master
Vilas Beach
Wild Rose

The path

A new world teases us toward the light
Tall dry grass, broken thorny branches
The taste of warm sweet juices
Stain our morning

Westmorland

Up the hill we spin until my body floats
Like streamers in the wind
Your push makes my tingles explode into giggles

25¢

The ding-a-ling of push-ups and dreamsicles leaves forgotten swings
A swarm of bees dart out with their quarters

Behind my house

Back again, a summer day
Secrets rustling between the sun-dripped leaves
Perfect skin etched with today’s discoveries
Your hand, my thigh, not a whisper, just a girl