Mackenzie

16

Curiosities of Summer
They never told me the summer heat would squelch as if the sun were angered at my
light.
They said it would be bikes under the street lights and glass bottles left to struggle with fragility in the ferocity of the streets,
the streets that scrounge for feet in order to be felt
even if it is through being
tread upon.
They said I would be able to see the carnival lights from my bedroom window
but even on my roof
all I could see was what I thought of the ground
and decided then
never to return.
Even in the swimming pools the chlorine seemed to stick to my skin
and the hose was never more than a taste of purity.
My exposed skin was unsure of what to make of all the
air and contact and temptation to breathe
breathe with the intensity of devouring free days
days with choices and therefore
controversy.
Summer with its beauty in the space
but its pressure of not knowing what to do without
desks and dull pencils and looseleaf
only the loose leaves of autumn can motivate
the summer to be felt and inhaled
and thought of
as
an anomaly.
The contradictions within freedom,
the students have the summertime to practice them
and the school year to wonder
when freedom will no longer be just a
word
but rather something that squelches like light and
summer heat.