Summertime Snapshots (A Poem)

By Joyce Jacobo

[Author’s Note: Summer is almost here. What are your favorite things about the season?]

I can see them already…

              …those scenes that flow

                              throughout the course

                                          of an entire season…

Chilly ocean waves swish as they chase

       after wiggly toes

                                        across vast beaches

                      while seagulls cry out

                                                          in shrill squawks

                                                  from high

                                                                 overhead

The distinctive crackles made

                          by a grill

                                             sometime in the evening

                                as warmed fragrances

                                                          waft through the atmosphere

Distant explosions

                      of fireworks in bloom

                                        among the starry heavens

Even the laughter of children

               at greater liberty to roam about

                           and enjoy all the privileges

                                        that youth brings

                                            …and all those tender moments

                                                              spent between couples

                                                                    from newlyweds

                                                                                 to silver-haired sweethearts               

Cool relief                  

                                     savored amid hot afternoons—

           and the heated delights

                                                   known during chilly nights

A season…                       

           to create fond memories

                             alongside a few

                                            melancholy ones

                 …All of them precious

                               and valuable memories

                                           to slip into the photo albums                                                        

of our lives