Brief Ode to Summer

July whizzed by
it's over now and
school will start too soon.
The stars were only briefly
in a line, my planet barely
rubbing shoulders with the moon.
Some people came and went
and others died but one day
I was naked on a dune.
The summer's almost over
and I love the fall but
this?
Today?
Inopportune.
I need more time
to sweat and dodge the rain
that's typical of afternoon.
I need another August,
longer, please, with fewer knives.
More spoons.


(c) Ellen Gillette, 2018