last day of Pride month —
I explain to a young person
how things used to be

low temps not that low —
we try to pull some cool air
from a moonless night

warm June evening —
our guests from the West Coast
see their first fireflies

long days of waiting —
rights withering and dying
like vines in a drought

chimney swifts
swooping low as dusk comes on —
hard to look away

we spend most of June
keeping the gardens watered —
lightning bugs return

muggy heat wave —
even the squirrels 
seem bogged down by it

last vacation day —
we give ourselves permission
to miss our own bed

retirement countdown —
loosening my grip on
the days of the week

first day of summer —
the two-hour nap we drop in
doesn't even splash

summer solstice —
we unroll the day's long spool
as a bedtime tale

woke up this morning
with my mind set on freedom —
songs ringing like bells

socked in by a fog —
I can feel my mind searching
for the old landmarks

plovers taking turns 
on their shallow sandy nests —
no chicks yet this year

three killdeer chicks
scurrying across gravel —
proud parents look on

after last year's drought
a spring of lingering clouds —
puddles in puddles

unable to march
our elders sent handmade signs
for us to carry

backyard concert —
fireflies reappear
as we look away

#NoKings Day —
thinking only as far ahead
as the next protest

field-picked strawberries
with the sun's loving kiss
still warm in my hand

far from each other
we make a plan to enjoy
the full moon together

stuck under these clouds 
like a clutch of eggs
under a mother wren

more choreopsis
joins the yarrow and tickseed —
just keep walking, deer

stock-still robins
staring down into the grass
conjuring worms

lingering haze
obscuring our memory
of crisp blue skies

its tentative hop
serving as our first clue —
fledgling robin

our only child
regales us with his sweet dreams
of fatherhood

watching the garden
for the particular green of 
brand new zinnias

seeking and finding —
a catbird flings his best song
out for a loop

reading the labels —
we scour the nursery for
plants the deer won't eat