summer that year was a beauty
dry and hot
we pulled our hair back in ponytails
licked popsicles
and sipped water
in between games
dandelions bloomed like promises
in the outfield
it was better than my first kiss
when i got it
less sloppy,
more dirty—
savored spent-breath,
sweaty, flush, and beaming—
the green gleaming
and i don’t remember
anything else
i got that scrap-
book year, except the spotlight
of my cleats
leaving a dusty outline planted
like petals on home plate © 2025 jennifer wagner poetic bloomings
shay’s word garden word list
sunday whirl
Absolutely stunning, makes me smile big ear to ear. Thanks for sharing such a special memory and bringing childhood wonder through your work. :)
ReplyDeleteI love how you have shaped this - like following the game and going in for a home run! Jae
ReplyDeleteAs one young lady softball player to another .... Home runs are the epitome / end all / be all of a summer spent on a field. Your poem speaks to the experience, emotion, freedom, wonder of being a girl / and one who remembers. [ second stanza unreal! ]
ReplyDeleteThis poem feels like summer - the heat, the thirst, the dust, those footprints at home plate. A wonderful glimpse of childhood summers. I love it.
ReplyDeleteShe's gonna score, here she comes and with a little jump she lands on home plate. Go crazy, folks!
ReplyDeleteI love this slice of memory and life.
ReplyDeleteOh, I love this! I was right there with you in this visual delight!
ReplyDeleteYour words bring the magic alive, Jennifer, and it sounds like a home run summer.
ReplyDeleteSo very vivid, but delicate and deft, this poem. I especially like the first kiss--how true that is!-and "...dandelions bloomed like promises/in the outfield..." You bring us into the memory and make it real.
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ReplyDeletedandelions bloomed like promises
in the outfield
a wonderful poem!
Sara
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