Breathing Vermont

Think of the mischievous nights
of a firefly summer
out in the field, grassy and sweet-smelling green.

Of the cool rocky creek and the spiderwebbed tunnel
the groaning old stairs of a farmhouse
a leafy tree sound beneath your feet—
I would take even the salty whine of a mosquito.

Now, school-hardened, battle-weary,
I long for the sun that melts us, the lakewater that washes us clean,
the floaty breeze that wraps us in a delicious cocoon of freedom:
for a satisfying, soul-renewing summer,
when I am I and you are you and everyone, everyone, rejoices in their newborn selves.

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Clarkie Hussey, age 13
Seattle, Washington
Lakeside Middle School
Teacher: Alicia Hokanson