Keeping Cool At Grandma's

June 10, 2011


        Keeping Cool

My grandmother had beds put out

on her summer porch, where we’d lie

on cool sheets

those summer afternoons with our books.

We’d fan ourselves with church pictures,

And Grandmother would shake her hankie at her face,

saying “Pshaw!  It’s not as hot as last summer,

just a bit close is all.  Have some more lemonade.”

She’d send my uncle down to buy a nickel’s worth of ice chips

at the ice house.  He’d stay there long as he could,

in that  coldest spot in town,

filling his body with smells of sawdust and ice blocks. 

By the time he’d returned, we’d tired of turning pages, and

started on the games. 

The sun had begun that downturn and we could feel

the thermometer slide too. 

Time to start supper,

lay the table,

And wait for Grandpa to come in from the fields.