Lawrence.com

Firecrackers and Sparklers

By Larry Rochelle

stepping inward, caught between doorway

and deliverance, each customer smiles,

then swoops forward,

gaining speed, inspired

by distance.

going back so many years replaces

traffic lights and parking meters,

joys once commonplace return, a slower life,

green leaves in tall elms

overhead, and sidewalk cracks click to roller

skates, a golden sun flickering, shattering

time, minutes into hours,

long afternoons of comic books

and Kool-Aid, grape's the best.

oaken flooring creaks pleasantly, footsteps

muffled by sawdust, toys neatly lining both sides,

the aisles bursting with slinkies and cap guns,

fire engines and space travel, momentary

displacement, middle-aged bodies leap

to touch the ceiling fans, cooler air moving

patriotic streamers, blue, red, white,

and it's the Fourth of July again,

just as it was then, back,

back when life was slow,

when mothers offered rye crisp

and cheese, chocolate chip cookies,

the dough still warm

to the touch.

-- Larry Rochelle is an English professor at Johnson County Community College. Poet's Showcase features work by area poets. Submit your poetry via e-mail with a subject line of Poet's Showcase to mpaget@ljworld.com or send typewritten (not handwritten) submissions to Mindie Paget, 645 N.H., Lawrence 66044, attn: Poet's Showcase. Teen writers should submit their work to the 18 & Under page at teens@ljworld.com.