For the collection: 'Life in the time of #COVID'.
No crack of the bat or sluice of dirt
As you fly feet-first into third.
No dramatic clang of the last school bell
No splash of chlorine
Whose pungent punch
Pulls you back to nostalgic joy.
No, it’s summer,
Sliding
Barely noticed
Into the ambiance of your life.
Honeysuckle whispers a reminder,
Fireflies wink a knowing glance.
This summer has come
Not on little cat feet
But on the rumble of thunder
And the threat of a strike
More fearsome than lightning.
And yet we creep in
Nonetheless
With care
With caring
With masks to save a soul’s reminder
Of days of uninfected joy,
Positively pure.
We march away from worry
Striving to link arms
And connect with august friends
Who matched us stride for stride
When our steps fell more lightly
On glistening paths
Caressed by morning dew.
Jim Andrukonis is a retired Speech + Drama and Creative Writing teacher from Fairfax County, VA and currently works part-time doing activities with a senior living facility as well as substitute teaching. As a member of the Northern Virginia Writing Project, he was also co-director of its Young Writers Program for twenty-five years.