#some summers

[thesingingknives]

Summer of Gin & Tonics All Night Long. Summer of Blackberry Brandy Mixed with Sprite. Summer of Blatz & Pabst Blue Ribbon. Summer of Mad Dog & Night Train. The summer that snuck up on you; rolled into town on a night train with his head fulla lightnin’, his hat fulla rain. The summer that was always there, at a table in the corner of the coffee shop, waiting for someone to notice him. The summer when you thought you’d die if the person you loved didn’t notice you. Summer of Love & Lousy Poetry. Slut Summer, when you had two boyfriends & a girlfriend, simultaneously. Summer of Big Dumb Crushes. Summer of Long-Distance Lovers. Summer of Breaking Up with Everyone. Summer of Everyone Breaking Up with You. The summer when everyone died. The summer when you almost got arrested, twice. Summer the freight trains followed you everywhere. Summer that started a burning in your heart to always be moving. Restless Summer. Reckless Summer. Bruce Springsteen Summer, when the tramps like you & everyone you knew, baby, were born to run.

—Jessie Lynn McMains, from Reckless Chants #28.09: Some Summers (July 2024)

[rustbeltjessie]

Summer of Freckles & Fireflies. The summer when you cried at every sunset. The summer when you stayed up all night, every night. Thunderstorm Summer. Summer that was so hot it melted the soldering on the stained glass lamp. Summer of Secret Gardens & Skinned Knees. Summer of Mosquito Bites & Dark Truths. Carl Sandburg Summer, when the stars drew fish with fire-tails & rabbits with fire-ears on the night sky. Summer of Long Drives. Summer of Chicory on the Roadsides. Summer of Motel Rooms & Highway Signs. The summer you ran away with the circus. Summer of Tall Ships, when you played at being a pirate. Theater Camp Summer. Northwoods Summer. Cicada Summer.

—Jessie Lynn McMains, from Reckless Chants #28.09: some summers

[weedhorse69]

[rustbeltjessie]

Reckless Chants #28.09: some summers. July’s mini-zine is now done, and as of today all the copies for my subscribers are packaged up and ready to be sent out. This one’s a prose poem/vignette about some different types of summers I’ve experienced. Of course, in reality, some of these summers overlapped, because I’m not a hundred years old. Yet they all felt so distinct that I had to write about them separately; it’s like every summer of my life has contained several smaller summers inside of it.

[weedhorse69]

[weedhorse69]

[weedhorse69]

[weedhorse69]