POEM - Summer Dilemma

Lazily the conversation

Meanders around the point

As you search

For a reason to cook

Where is the potato salad

And the holiday leftovers

That won’t heat up the house

That might prolong the reclining moment?

If it was just us we’d wait

Let the humid moments pass

But these darn kids

Are not as patient

Complaining of a hunger

More based in boredom

Than actual starvation

The message you send is desperate

            “Why don’t we have any good food in this house?”

I know that good really means easy

            “Maria gave us a box of corn

                        We have lots of corn!”

“Well, cook some up - the kids love it

Maybe ruin it with butter and salt, like in the old days

Or worse, with margarine

Like we were raised in the 70s!”

You let me know they had corn for breakfast

Such silly little reprobates

            “I am eating boiled peanut” you relate

                        “I am ashamed” is your confession

I laugh in text

            “Hahaha, you are Southern now! Sorry!”

But it isn’t a joke

There is watermelon in the fridge

Fried chicken for dinner

A farm outside our door

And overalls in my closet

And you just told me Maria’s trailer is “nice”

And I wonder when it happened

But summer is too hot

For anything so deep

And I’m jealous of corn for breakfast

And I was hoping

            To snack on those boiled peanuts

Cool and moist

            Waiting in the refrigerator door