Friday, June 22, 2012

COOL POOL: An Original Poem



We’ve had some beastly summer weather in my neck of the woods this week. I’m not a lover of the heat. I much prefer the cooler days of autumn. I cope as best I can when the temperatures rise into the nineties.

Here is a poem I wrote many years about a child finding a way to cope with heat in summertime.

COOL POOL

The sun beats down.
It sears.
It scorches.
Sweating neighbors sit on porches
Sipping ice-cold lemonade
Waiting for the day to fade.
BUT
When I’m hot as steaming tea,
I stand beneath our maple tree,
Remove my sneakers, socks…and wade
Into a cool green pool of shade.

 ********************

Amy has the Poetry Friday Roundup at her wonderful blog Poem Farm.

9 comments:

Linda B said...

Lovely thought, Elaine, but even the shade isn't helping much today in the Denver area. It's supposed to be close to 100. I'm drinking tea instead of lemonade, but it isn't helping much. Keep cool!

jama said...

Wading in a cool green pool of shade -- so childlike, I can just picture it and feel it :).

Thank goodness for AC, I say, but I know lots of you folks up north don't have central AC. Couldn't survive the summer without it in VA.

Ed DeCaria said...

I like how you contrast a kid's view of his "sweating neighbors" with his own clearly superior strategy ... well done.

Liz Steinglass said...

I love the rhymes--scorches and porches! and I love the pool of shade!

Amy LV said...

Yes! Those last two lines got me. I love saying them out loud. Do you know Karen Hesse's COME ON, RAIN!? Your sweaty neighbors remind me of the mamas. Get cool!

Betsy Hubbard said...

I love the thought of "a cool green pool of shade." That is such a powerful visual. I may go dip my toes in some shade too!

Anonymous said...

I really enjoyed that. I like the heat, but the gorgeous sense of shade really spoke to me.

Cheoy Lee said...

Memories of river dipping in the hot summer sun came back to me while reading! This is lovely.

Ken Higginson said...

I can almost taste the lemonade and feel the cool shaded grass on my bare feet. Thanks for sharing!