On the second day of school Joy Clumsky, creative writing teacher at Lawrence High School, challenged her fledgling writers (with their fading tans and nostalgic eyes) to create metaphors for their summers -- to capture the essence of the fading season in sensual images. Their thoughts serve as memory "seeds" for generating another retrospective look at our own summers past.
Summer is "
Flicking June bugs on my front screen door.
A spider spinning a web near the corner street lamp.
-- Jason Fugett
Summer is "
Long walks in stark darkness while locusts whisper in my ear.
Clothes dried in the warm summer breeze.
Frolicking through a field of sunflowers that stretch to infinity.
-- Julie Cochrane
Summer is "
Flashlight tag throughout the neighborhood.
An ocean of dandelions.
-- B.J. Powell
Summer is "
Staying out in late July, wishing on the star, "our" star.
Watching the honeybees collect their daily dose of pollen.
-- Valerie Pentecost
Summer is "
The tug of a catfish on my fishing pole.
The growl of a street rod cruising the streets.
The sizzle of yesterday's catch on the stove.
-- Cody Bost
Summer is "
Loose ponytails.
Around-the-clock pajamas.
-- Allison Ramirez
Summer is "
Sleeping in until mid-morning and going to bed at midnight.
Moonlit rides with the top down.
-- Daniel Speicher
Summer is "
Green crickets chirping in the briar patch.
-- Amanda Schmidt
Summer is "
Jumping on oversized trampolines in late afternoon.
Eating the mulberries off my tree in the back yard.
-- Andrew Putnam
Summer is "
Stopping at fountains to dip my feet.
That nighttime groovy cricket jive.
-- Bernadette Zacharias
Summer is "
A sparrow, bathing in the morning dew.
Dreamless nights spent writing.
-- Sharyl Fletcher
Summer is "
Four-wheeling through the woods in Indiana.
Capri pants and tube tops.
-- Elizabeth Spencer
Summer is "
The squishy mud between my toes when I first step into a silver lake.
The hum of the air conditioner.
-- Jasmine Griffith
Summer is "
Pounding beats and grooving feet on the dance floor.
Dealing with the death of summer and birth of school.
-- Will Ekpo
Summer is "
The fluttering wings of the July monarchs.
Running barefoot on the cool grass.
--Lindsey Sullivan
Summer is "
A perfect sunset, peeking over the beach.
-- Kristina Young
Summer is "
The sound of a volleyball slamming into the ground.
My ice cream melting off my cone onto my fingers.
-- Nicole Wenger
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