A look back on summer days past

I'm dealing with a bout of insomnia right now, and I'm feeling a little nostalgic, so I figure there's no better place to express it that here.

Yellow dog barks through the screen

A cluster of kids on the trampoline
Relay races, squirrel chases
Beating sun and bright red faces
Bathing suits and crowded beaches
Picnic blankets, Georgia peaches
Late-night talks and midnight walks
Brand-new pool toys in a box
A golf club swing, a football pass
Sprinkler play in the centipede grass
Cherry popsicle colored tongue
Country songs and doorbells rung
Small boys in baggy swim trunks
Fruit punch and watermelon chunks
Tailgate parties and barbeque
Fireworks red, white, and blue
Towhead blonde hair turning green
From the local pool and all the chlorine
Anti-insect outdoor candles
Two-wheel scooters with rubber handles
Lawn chair forts and tree branch huts
Hot metal bleachers with burning butts
Young romance, summer flings
Lizards dart, a cardinal sings
Gaggles of kids chasing ice cream trucks
Elderly couples feeding the ducks
On a wood-deck porch, an old ginger cat
Rests her paws on the welcome mat
While that same yellow dog I mentioned before
Continues barking mindlessly through that screen door.

~sleepinl8