Summer in a Small Town
by Linda Gregg
When the men leave me,
they leave me in a beautiful place.
It is always late summer.
When I think of them now,
I think of the place.
And being happy alone afterwards.
This time it’s Clinton, New York.
I swim in the public pool
at six when the other people
have gone home.
The sky is gray, the air hot.
I walk back across the mown lawn
loving the smell and the houses
so completely it leaves my heart empty.
from ALL OF IT SINGING: NEW AND SELECTED POEMS by Linda Gregg. Published by Graywolf Press, 2008.
Most Poetry will post a poem on the theme of joy and celebration, selected by our members, each day through the month of September.