Cruel Summer

Once upon a cruel summer

I found you, a shimmering

shell on the beach.

You locked eyes with me

From then on

We would walk and talk about nothing in particular

Kept dreams in my pocket I gradually turned out for you.

Those days of my youth

Are rose-colored by the lilt of your laugh

The crease of your dimpled cheek.

That stupid thing you said that had me bent over dying.

The day that you told me you’d love me forever.

Should have found a way to bottle that up.

It’d sell like funnel cakes at the fair and remind lovers of when finger brushed hair, tight embraces and sucking faces was the only care.

Cut to—the smell of your skin on mine.

A remnant of the night we shared.

A keepsake of how we breathed, chests heaved, bodies wreathed.

Do you still think about the way you twirled me in the rain?

My clothing clung to me and you said, “You’re so fucking pretty, it kills me.”

I kissed you so hard I tasted blood

but you just carried me away and we made love.

Once upon a cruel summer

Walking and talking about nothing in particular.

Those hot nights of my youth

I bet you miss them.

I know I still do.