*Still thinking about family and my hometown, as you can tell*

During stretched out summer days, when time is full and blooming

larger than responsibility, when heat-thickened air vibrates with light, and idleness hangs ripe, ready to pick,

Forest Park swells with people. From neighborhoods they stream

to the zoo, the Jewel Box, meet at the Muny Opera–
people gathering, spilling into the park itself.

And can you remember, St. Louis, that first tongue-lick of ice cream?

Can you recall the wide-eyed wonder
of walking through the Great Flight Cage?

It is summer’s lengthened hours which most resonate
with possibility, when dreams and balloons inflate.