Poem of the Day 03.02.23

ghosts of summer

give me back
the smack of wiffleball bat
on wiffleball

the home run kings of cul de sacs
surrounding duplex houses

playing 10-run rule

or until it was all decided
when the wiffleball went rolling down the sewer

give me back
playing nerf football in the shade
with concrete gods

making star wars action figure plots
right out of the humid, sweltering air

the sun-sick joy of evermore romance
that wouldn’t last a week

trading baseball cards on front porches
like sweaty stock brokers fearing a crash

those suburban kids
those suburban girls

those ghosts of summer
playing tag with the streetlights and fireflies

some of whom have died too young
some of whom have lived
to grow as gray as i

oh, give me back that freedom
of faux innocence and blissful indecision

you petrifying wretch of time.