carries me back to summer parades
hard candy thrown from homemade floats
red wagons with crepe paper tails
melted vanilla ice cream on black top
invisible snakes rising to make the world swoon
near a booth of ruffled purple parasols
with embroidered monograms for sale
next to swirling vats of frozen lemonade
in a town that time screamed past
like police sirens in a parade
officers in cop cars waving
while firemen sound the horn
upon request with a pump of the fist
and the dip of an elbow
the tissue in my bra didn't keep its shape
but it did keep me dry when the sun
reached it's apex and the grown ups
took cover under cool green awnings
while the kids continued to roam free and wild
and I endured the scorching pavement
waiting for a boy in a blue polo shirt
to buy me an airbrushed t-shirt
with our names emblazoned like comets
when I turned a bright shade of pink
it was not a sun burn
but the tender pain of summer bliss
that tasted like a watermelon Jolly Rancher
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