Ken Wagner

07-10-21

One boy
and his pail
The ocean

One boy
and his kite
The sky

One man
and a shovel
His grave

Summer lightning
The smell of idling
boat engines

Summer lightning
Children running
to the ice cream truck

Summer lightning
Your fingers spreading
on my back

Boys casting lines
off the rocky seawall
Fish too small to keep

Large Sorrento
lemons – Americans boast while
crossing to Capri

Amalfi coast,
sipping limoncello
on the water

Amalfi coast,
smelling petrol fumes
on the water

Tending the garden
on Independence Day
The caw caw of crows

Tending the garden
on Bastille Day
The caw caw of crows

Tending the garden
A muffler backfires
in the distance

Brown heat on the
great plains – A faraway
church steeple

Sunflowers
then
a faraway rooftop

Wet sand
Seagull pecks
at a bag of chips

Summer heat
Hold me
close

Summer heat
Hold my
clothes