Firefly bulbs

Floating 5 feet above

Shiny faces in the amber-orange glow

Of endless summer nights

The pitch-black sky

Beyond the spiderweb of wires

Sprinkled with stars

Bob Seger and Tom Petty and Labi Siffre and 

Steve Miller Band echoing the static sounds of

Freedom from the JBL speaker

The night moves with 

Fold-out tables with fold-out chairs 

And wooden bean-bag boards

Shaking off sawdust with every throw

In the green grass, cut twice a week

By Mom and Dad, and sometimes the grouchy neighbor

Who insists he’s just following the property line

Igloo ice coolers and slip-and-slides and 

Running around in sockless sandals

Next to the sand-dune sawgrass on the 

Sunnyside southeastern beach

On Saturdays and Sundays and 

Staycations and vacations

Lounging poolside 

Virgin daiquiri in hand

With a little umbrella 

Floating around

Like it knows everything’s going to be alright

And I wonder if it’s thinking

Well, those drifter days are past me now

Lying in the green grass on a humid

July evening behind the yellow tubing on top of

The fence at the edge of the 

Busy baseball field 

Where parents pack hot dogs in aluminum foil and

Beyond the downtown district, where they serve steak fries in 

Aluminum cans and all that jazz

Away from the noise, frozen in the warm green grass

The white dandelions soft against the fingerpads

Fireflies buzzing and glowing their 

Amber-orange glow

Staring up at the sunsetting summertime sky with its

Purples and oranges and reds and 

Red, white and blue abracadabra asterisks

Zoooo-pop! Zoooo-pop!

The smell of smoke from the grill and

Smoke from the sky

Reaching up to the purple-painted streaks and

Fading red and blue fireworks and

Distant white stars of the heavens

The final dark gray skyrocket puffs

Free-falling from the grand finale

Like tears down a sunburnt cheek

Alex is a junior in LAS.

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