To create summer it takes

To create summer it takes

by Kathleen Anne Smith

a porch — and one hydrangea
screened porch — blue hydrangea
and memory
Memory alone will do
if hydrangeas are few

kitchen table, five tomatoes
women singing over boiling water
and memory
and if memory is fading
four tomatoes will do

tomatoes, one blue hydrangea,
an ocean breeze that lifts
the women’s song like memory
through open windows
to the children on the porch

figs, tomatoes, garlic, cheese
hydrangeas in grand bouquets
men with wine and mandolins
who sing across the kitchen table
to sunburned wives

to create a summer, it takes
a song and waves
a certain song — blue waves
and what remains
of memory