The Summer I Was Sixteen
Geraldine Connolly
The turquoise pool rose up to meet us,
its slide a silver afterthought down which
we plunged, screaming, into a mirage of bubbles.
We did not exist beyond the gaze of a boy.
Shaking water off our limbs, we lifted
up from ladder rungs across the fern-cool
lip of rim. Afternoon. Oiled and sated,
we sunbathed, rose and paraded the concrete,
danced to the low beat of "Duke of Earl".
Past cherry colas, hot-dogs, Dreamsicles,
we came to the counter where bees staggered
into root beer cups and drowned. We gobbled
cotton candy torches, sweet as furtive kisses,
shared on benches beneath summer shadows.
Cherry. Elm. Sycamore. We spread our chenille
blankets across grass, pressed radios to our ears,
mouthing the old words, then loosened
thin bikini straps and rubbed baby oil with iodine
across sunburned shoulders, tossing a glance
through the chain link at an improbable world.
Geraldine Connolly
The turquoise pool rose up to meet us,
its slide a silver afterthought down which
we plunged, screaming, into a mirage of bubbles.
We did not exist beyond the gaze of a boy.
Shaking water off our limbs, we lifted
up from ladder rungs across the fern-cool
lip of rim. Afternoon. Oiled and sated,
we sunbathed, rose and paraded the concrete,
danced to the low beat of "Duke of Earl".
Past cherry colas, hot-dogs, Dreamsicles,
we came to the counter where bees staggered
into root beer cups and drowned. We gobbled
cotton candy torches, sweet as furtive kisses,
shared on benches beneath summer shadows.
Cherry. Elm. Sycamore. We spread our chenille
blankets across grass, pressed radios to our ears,
mouthing the old words, then loosened
thin bikini straps and rubbed baby oil with iodine
across sunburned shoulders, tossing a glance
through the chain link at an improbable world.
- Read poem three times.
- I selected this poem because I liked the title. It caught my attention and I felt that the subject would be something I could relate to right away.
- The title fits the work by describing the seasonal setting of the poem and the age of the character within the poem. It is simple but informative, also in first person.
- Devices the poet utilizes are personification with "pool rose up to meet us" (1), metaphors/similes with "cotton candy torches, sweet as furtive kisses" (13), and imagery throughout with insightful word choices. Like "bees staggered into rootbeer cups" and "pressed radios to our ears." They influence the poem by describing memories how the poet would personally remember them. They helo to get inside the emotions of the narrator, creating emphasis on the ways in which they spent their summer. The reader's attention focuses on the pictures and sounds the words create, providing the feeling of a lazy warm summer with time moving fast.
- The tone of the piece is reflective, calm, warm, and nostalgic. The poet succeeded in creating this tone by word choice, such as "fern-cool," "low beat," "summer shadows," "blankets across grass," and "old words." Mostly, I feel the author reminisces about the past by the last line referencing the future: "tossing a glance/through the chain link at an improbable world."
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