How to Spend a Hot Summer Day

Yesterday morning, while the temperature was moving steadily upwards, I spent some time with Ted Kooser on the back roads of Nebraska (So This is Nebraska), feeling the wind move through my fingers, hands gliding over the wheat. A while later, I rode along with Debra Allbery in the back of a pickup on the way to her first job, picking Produce with other kids and old men in berry-stained shirts. It brought back some nice summer memories. I used to love riding in the back of a pickup. I've even been thinking about getting one.

In the afternoon, I sat with Donald Hall as he recalled how his beloved wife and fellow poet, Jane Kenyon, once stood at the sink of their Summer Kitchen with a glass of wine, listening for the bobolink and crushing garlic in the late sunshine. His loss deserves my time.

Next thing I knew, it was evening and a storm was rolling in. I'd been hanging out at Ginsberg's pad, A Strange New Cottage in Berkeley. I'm sure I'll return to hear more about how he found a perfectly good coffeepot in the vines by the porch and, even more important, where he hid his stash. Right now, there's fresh potato salad cooling in the frig, Buddy's staying cool in his man cave, and what I really want to hear about is Alice Persons' crush on the UPS man. Here's the scoop:

"Why I Have a Crush on You, UPS Man"

you bring me all the things I order
are never in a bad mood
always have a jaunty wave as you drive away
look good in your brown shorts
we have an ideal uncomplicated relationship
you're like a cute boyfriend with great legs
who always brings the perfect present
(why, it's just what I've always wanted!)
and then is considerate enough to go away
oh, UPS Man, let's hop in your clean brown truck and elope!
ditch your job, I'll ditch mine
let's hit the road for Brownsville
and tempt each other
with all the luscious brown foods --
roast beef, dark chocolate,
brownies, Guinness, homemade pumpernickel, molasses cookies
I'll make you my mama's bourbon pecan pie
we'll give all the packages to kind looking strangers
live in a cozy wood cabin
with a brown dog or two
and a black and brown tabby
I'm serious, UPS Man. Let's do it.
Where do I sign?


~ Alice N. Persons



Painting by Danish artist Peder Severin Kroyer (1851-1909). Thank you, Grethe, thyra2005.blogspot.com, for introducing that wonderful school of painters to me.