Summer Days are Like That
(listen to the poem, read by the author)
He puts on his blue terry cloth bucket hat and his red clown sneakers.
His plaid shorts and striped polo, his uniform for lawn mowing.
Gentlemen, start your engines,
And he is off over the hills and valleys of the back yard.
Yesterday’s thunderstorm rained a wetland
Where frogs sounded the night’s chorus.
But this morning the frogs hide from horsepower and red sneakers.
The grass succumbs to whirling blades,
And the rough places are made plain.
The yard smoothes its greenness into plush velvet,
Ready for a royal summer picnic.
Filled with cushaw bread,
Scalloped turnips, corn relish,
Buttermilk biscuits and sausage gravy,
The picnic basket ready in the kitchen.
Soon all the aunts and uncles and cousins arrive,
Toting their picnic contributions as well.
Summer days are like that.
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About the Author
Judith Krum is a teacher, counselor, writer, and disability rights advocate who earned her BA in English from Marietta College (Ohio) and her M.Ed. from McDaniel College (Maryland). Her work has been published in many anthologies, journals, and magazines. She has five published books on Amazon. Most recently, her memoir, My M S Journey: Recalculating, was published in December 2021. Born in New York, she has lived in Ohio, Maryland, Vermont, and now resides in Florida with her husband, an organist-choirmaster. Judith was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in1985.