Here For You Is the Next Installment in the Poem Series About the Summer of 2006

July 5, 2006
Long long weekend with lots of stuff in it

But the single most striking thing must be the fireworks
We went up to the park on top of a hill to watch them
with a whole big gang of folks including the baby

We ate food and sat on blankets and
got to give him a really beautiful little sweater
that my mom made especially for him
out of granny squares the colors of the ocean

We were having fun but we didn’t have especially high hopes for these fireworks
since it was a new and untried viewing spot and we were tired
plus you always figure the fog’s going to roll in and then
ooh look colored fog whoop-dee-doo
plus it was cold
But in fact
it was perfect
The fog didn’t come and instead
we could see two perfectly matching sets of fireworks
rising up side by side above the roofs of the houses below us
Big round purple twinkly ones and slow-fade golden sparkly ones
multicolored ones that looked like boxes and hearts and happy faces
and the tallest huge ones that look like they’re moving slowly forward towards you

I stood next to Bill and hung on tight to his arm
and Benjamin had the baby up on his shoulders
rapt

It was a big mellow crowd
standing in the park
in the dark
by that time
everyone’s faces lit
with white light
each time one went off
if you turned around
and looked back at the people
instead of at the sky
you could see it



Image source is here