Finalist

This Summer

 

No honking cars or even high flying snow balls

Just the almost-a-snow-day January stillness

The heavy, frosty grayness that weighs me down

Walking home from the bus stop sniffling and snuffling

Only one sound keeps me company

As I squish through the slushy sidewalk

The lazy, constant gurgling of this mossy stream

Still bubbling and trickling

Over orange and speckled pebbles

Pebbles I’ll rub between my fingers in June

Smooth from months of tumbling down the creek

Beads of frost cling to each green fuzz

Moss I’ll run my bare feet over in July

When every patch is soft and warm from months of streaming sunlight

For now, only the soothing sloshing

Like rushing water echoing into a porcelain bath

Masking January’s lonely tranquility and bitter cold

The only audible noise in this wintery tundra

That same constant bubbling water I’ll hear this summer.

 

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Christina Maria Perachio, age 18

Wallingford, Pennsylvania

Strath Haven High School

Teacher: Emily Farrell