The Colors of a Summer Evening

By Mary Suggs

All the colors,

Bright, sharp and true,

Blurred here and there

Yet others, strong points of light, standing like

Guideposts by which to trace a path

Across the greensward and back again.

Past cotton candy-colored lassies twirling with the

rhythms of the evening.

Past brown-legged boys, bursting with bright red energy,

And quiet watchful grandfathers blending into the neutral background

While their white-haired ladies sit in striped webbed chairs,

Bravely wearing their modern skirts of clashing colors,

And tired moms and dads in their everyday clothes

look longingly at the bright-hued sparkles of parading youth.

A summer painting, overwashed with the hot yellow

of popcorn,

The steaming red of hot dogs, the cool crystal of

lemonade and

A sparkling, cascading color wheel of a Sousa march.

– Mary Suggs lives in Lawrence. Poet’s Showcase features work by area poets.