Summer in the Country
by Michael Dylan Welch, Colleen Gerrish Force, and Jim Force (Nika)
First published in Skylark 5:2, Winter 2017, page 108. Written 16 July 2011 at Silva Bay Resort, Gabriola Island, British Columbia. See also “Christmas in the City,” written with Jim Force (and vincent tripi) in 1993, which bookended the following rengay, eighteen years earlier.
cedar rounds
stacked to the cabin soffit—
summer rain Michael
an orange plastic whistle
on a teenager’s life jacket Colleen
the picnic table
carved with initials
new and old Nika
mosquito repellent
forgotten again Michael
trolling the lake
in search of pickerel . . .
horizon moon Colleen
between kisses
first firefly Nika
