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We Are Summer
by
Jan Epton Seale


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(on being color-analyzed with Judy)

I knew it. There was always
something about us
high-toned and full.
Fall? We've done that all right.
Winter? You ski a week each year;
I once rode a ski lift in July.
Spring? Sister, are we sprung?
Yes, summer becomes us.
My, how we bloom!
Rosy cheeks, rosy lips, rosy eyes:
we're Essence of Rosy.
We're fireflies--lightnin' bugs
in Texas. We glow
now here now there
sending off signals
that mystify all around,
even ourselves.
And though we're shot through
with summer lightning
coming out of what
we thought was a
hot blue cloudless sky,
still we're cotton, blackberries,
pickles, sunflowers,
Johnson grass.
Let's face it:
there's something
coming back around in us,
a perennial buzz
a persistent yes.
Summer sister,
we're good and ripe.

From The Wonder Is: New and Selected Poems 1974-2004 (Panther Creek Press).
Used with the author's permission.

 


Jan Epton Seale was the 2012 Texas Poet Laureate. She is the author of nine volumes of poetry, two books of short fiction, three volumes of nonfiction, and nine children's books. The recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in Creative Writing, Jan taught English and creative writing at the university level for many years and now teaches memoir and creative writing workshops. Mother of three sons and grandmother of four grandsons, Jan lives in South Texas, where she volunteers at a local environmental center. Learn more about her at www.janseale.com.

                             

 

 


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