Arrow's Anthology

what is summer?

What is summer?

Summer is to suffocate

Stifling humidity weighing in your lungs like lead,

Or, better yet, like water.

It's the suffocating sea water,

The icy cold ripping the heavy air from your chest, replaced with a forced gulp

Of pure cold.

It's that same gulp an hour later,

The gasp, the wheeze, hunched over, sweaty palms grasping the tender skin of your stomach,

Laughing breathless euphoria.

Summer is heat.

The heated glance between two friends,

Boldness brought on my the unsympathetic sun.

Wanderlust and human lust,

Adrenaline fuelled adventures

Reflecting adrenaline fuelled connection.

Pure, hopeless connection.

The heat of a clean, sharp blade of sunlight pressing down on your face, tilted up to kiss the golden sky.

Summer is to love.

It's the rosy affair between the sun and the moon,

Clashing in the open air with evenings of lilac and copper.

The crippling, delicious agony of wondering how it's possible for anything to love as you are loving now.

Summer is to scream.

Your voice turning hoarse,

Lamenting to the universe in worshiping this useless freedom,

Wind whipping clothes and emotions all the more as you run

Faster, faster, faster through the forests and fields, imaginary barriers broken.

Summer is to cry.

It is the heat of what seems like lava down your already hot cheeks, disguised as salty droplets, as biting cold as the sea,

Flushing your face red,

Making you gasp for the cold air that left you before.

-

This was a spoken-word piece I wrote during a workshop with an incredibly talented Slam Poet. If you haven't heard of Piers Harrison-Reid, then I suggest you look him up - Kintsugi always moves me to tears!