The highlights of my summers
Were the streetlights coming on
and having to come sit on
the porch or go inside while
my big brothers and sister got to run around.
getting in the big van and watching the trees, the farms,
the rivers, clouds, and the stars,
pass by as we traveled. Playing games and playing games
with my siblings till we got too tired to keep going.
Staring into the sun to see who'd blink first.
Falling asleep and waking up somewhere else.
sword fights with sticks, wrestling matches...
foot racing, bike racing, calling out eachtime
biplanes or blimps passed overhead in the blue skies.
Running in the warm rains of sudden showers,
watching lightning flicker overhead and counting the seconds
it took for the thunder to reach our ears to see just how far away the storm was.
Eating dinners that left me stuffed.
Feeding sugar to ants by pouring the disaccharide
on ant hills and watching the ants take each granule
back down into their homes.
Chasing down ladybugs and putting them on weeds
filled with aphids to watch the red beetles feed.
Capturing lightning bugs, jumping high to reach them
as before they could float out of reach.
Laying in bed in the middle of night to finish a book
so I could talk about it to my older brothers and pass it on to my younger brother.
Feeding the dogs and having to clean up after they'd made a mess.
Getting ****** at my "mean" older siblings.
Trying to talk to my crush, and showing off when
it came to playing sports.
My summer was playing football game after football game,
getting hit hard, and tackling as hard as my scrawny body could.
Sleeping on the top bunk because I loved the summer heat.
Eating popsicles  and Italian ice and sharing with the neighborhood kids cause we had more than enough.
Sneaking to the corner store to buy bubbaloos,
chips, pop, and honeybuns with saved up chump change.
Visiting cousins, and celebrating birthday after birthday.
Yea, those were the good days.
The worlds falling apart now right before our eyes
and I just remember those good golden times.
I haven't seen a monarch butterfly
in more than a few years and they used to come every summer
in the thousands.