Summertime Blues 1962 Poem by Terry Collett

I sit on the grass
with Yiska

warm summer day
lunch time recess

do you think of me
when you're home?
she says

most of the time
I say

I think of you
nearly all of the time
at home
she says

what do you
think about?
I say

us together
in my bed at night
she says
as I hug my pillow
and kiss it

I pick grass
with my fingers
every night?
I say

most nights
she says
do you hug your pillow
and dream of me
in your bed?
she says

not easy
I share a bed
with my younger brother
I say

of course
she says
do you wish it was me
there and not him?
she says

I scatter the grass
at my feet

I think of you lying there
and me hugging you close
and kissing and such
I say

my mother said to me
what's the matter with you
wandering the house
like a moody cow?
Yiska says
nothing I told her
just that time of the month
and my brother said
what time of the month
is that?
feck off
I said and mother
told me to behave
and not swear

I look at her sitting there
her hands on her knees

what does your brother say
about us sitting here lunch times?

he says nothing to her
I don't think he worries
and he'd not tell tales

she turns and leans close
and kisses me quickly
wish you were
in my bed at night
she whispers

so do I
I reply

Goldfinch comes over
aren't you playing football?
he says
we need you
for right back

not now
I say
I'm back here with her

he shakes his head
and goes

I look at her
and she smiles
and I imagine her
with no clothes.