elizabethlevett

All day in the pool

with all the other kids in the

neighborhood

swimming and swimming

till my fingers got all

wrinkly

then to lie down on the warm pavement and get

brown and tired.

Cicadas and those pedal pushers we wore

that mom made.

My sister and I matched and I loved it because I was the youngest

and she hated it because she was the one in the middle.

Washing the car with the hose and a bucket.

I got a blister on a hike —

who cares though?

Because I’m tough. And anyway, we got to go to the mountains.

It’s still hot after supper and it’s

still a little light outside

Here in the backseat of the old station wagon

with the

windows rolled all the way down

and a Dairy Queen ice cream cone,

the kind with the swirl on top.

The sky is deep turquoise

and the breeze is coming up

with the smell of alfalfa

all the way home.