Summer Memories, Poetry

Butterfly wings and tire swings
At my Grandma’s place
Golden wheat and blistering heat
Summer’s noon embrace

Cola on ice, a watermelon slice
The meadow’s deep green grass
Jell-O bowls and ice cream rolls
At my birthday bash

A flight of geese, my baby niece
Lying on the dock
Red canoe hull, a white seagull
Perched high on a granite rock

The meandering stream where crayfish teem
Under smooth grey stones
Cool water flows, ducklings in rows
In fuzzy golden tones

Flying a kite, and a wandering hike
Through a mass of buttercups
Their yellow dust, sent twisting just
As the afternoon wind picks up

A willow’s limb and minnows swim
Near the grassy shore
A mallard’s nest, a wave from the west
Stir the shallows’ floor

Peach roses scent, the old cedar fence
That borders the neighbour’s farm
Cushy green moss and the horse-shoe toss
Beside the worn grey barn

A curious fawn, polliwogs in the pond
Cattails of chestnut brown
White waterlilies float, as bullfrogs croak
And water-strikers circle ‘round

The sun on my face, blouse of eyelet lace
Bare feet in fine green blades
A grasshopper’s chirp and the sound of my slurp
From my quenching lemonade

Skipping ropes, rolling down slopes
Riding my emerald green bike
Playing ‘til dusk, in corn maze husks
Beside the Trent River dike

Covered in dirt, purple stains on my shirt
From popsicles of grape
Grass streaks on my knees, a sting from a bee
Takes on an egglike shape

Counting tree stump rings as crickets sing
And the glow of fireflies
The moon’s orange cast and the cool at last
The barn owl’s evening cries

Loons tremolo as the sun sinks low
Shades of tangerine and pink
The porch lights come on, I’ve been up since dawn
And now it’s time for sleep.

By Kim (Bo) Stone Kalil,

Kim (nicknamed Bo in high school) Stone Kalil, lives in Toronto and spends as much time as possible with her family and friends at her home in the Thousand Islands, which was previously a 100-year-old defunct horse stable. Kim has shared several decorating ideas with TI Life, which you can see here.