The Other Side of Summer

By Marianne Tefft

THE OTHER SIDE OF SUMMER

In the eerie stillness of Labour Day
Where summer never ends
Razed palms cast no shade
Their stalks raise iguanas 
Above the dust-bronze earth
No tropical evening breeze
To cool sunburned shoulders

You load your shore-bound car 
With sand toys and beach blankets 
For summer’s last hurrah
I load mine with saltines sardines
And another case of water
To shove into the pantry beside towels
I pray I will not need to keep the ocean out

You rise with first light
As dawn breeze inflates the sheers
I look to the east but cannot detect sunrise
Beyond the corrugated shutters
Between me and barometric Armageddon
That obliges us to stare unblinking 
Into the eye of every storm

Marianne Tefft is a poet, lyricist, Montessori teacher and voiceover reader in Sint Maarten. Her debut poetry collection is FULL MOON FIRE: Spoken Songs of Love (2022). 

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