Once

 Once

Summertime

Childhood memories

Away from the hot city

Then

Once

Long car ride

On a country road

To the Catskill Mountains

Farm

Once

water pump

Peeling white house

Wraparound porch, rocking chairs

Then

Once

Blueberries

Tongue and fingers blue

Dad’s big pail brimming over

Then

Once

Mom baking 

Warm blueberry pies

Sour cream smeared pierogen

Then

Farm

Warm cows milk                                                                                                     

Weathered red barn                                     

Campfires at night, sparkling stars              

Once

Ethyl H.

Sept. 2020