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Gathering of Poetry | July 2025

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small boy with green shirt and blue jean shorts walking on diamond shaped stepping stones in a garden
An evening walk at summer camp

I offer a poetic homage for this month’s third Thursday entitled June, although I feel it is more aptly named Summer.  (But who am I to challenge John Updike’s wizardry of words?)  

As a child of the 50s, Updike captures the essence of my long-ago summer days.  Mornings that began with my name sing-songed at the backdoor screen calling me out to play; intense kickball games in the cinder alley with the bases unevenly spaced – the corner of the Davis garage, the edge of the Bush’s stone wall, and the large trunk of their oak tree; afternoons spent biking or skating round and round the block each rotation made more challenging as we fixed metal clamp on roller skates to our scuffed white summer tennis shoes; and then the languid evenings of hide and seek or firefly hunting as we counted our treasure trove of lighting bugs captured in empty Mason jars.

From July 2007 through August 2011, I stepped back into that magical time as we hosted Summer Camp for our nephew.  Most often these carefree days, filled with fishing and crafts, reading and games, took place at my parents’ cabin on Lac Courte Oreilles in northern Wisconsin.  There was one summer when hospice home care made that trip impossible and we shifted our play days to Rochester where evening walks replaced boating excursions but with no less fun in the “live-long light.”

June

The sun is rich,
And gladly pays
In golden hours,
Silver days,

And long green weeks
That never end.
School’s out. The time
Is ours to spend.

The playground calls,
The ice-cream man,
And, after supper,
Kick-the-can.

The live-long light
Is like a dream,
And freckles come
Like flies to cream.

I am happy to join fellow bloggers, Bonnie at Highly Reasonable, Kat at as kat knits, and Kym at Dancing at the Edge for a monthly Gathering of Poetry.

Bibliographic credit:  John Updike © 1965.  Initially published by Alfred A. Knopf in A Child’s Calendar. A new edition of the same title was reissued by Holiday House © 1999 with illustrations by Trina Schart Hyman which was a 2000 Caldecott Honor Book.

Other items of interest

Tree Squares

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light pink and white apple blossoms
orange maple leaves against a blue sky
six snow covered trees on a hill overlooking a lake with ducks
large tree trunk with red dot
BeckyB squares logo

When you grow up the daughter and the granddaughter of carpenters, you appreciate trees and the lumber they provide.  Fond memories of tagging along to Kleiner’s Lumberyard while Dad handpicked boards to be planed accompanied by harsh noise without benefit of ear protection in those days long before OSHA required safety and the sweet smell of sawdust or sweltering summer days spent planting trees at The 40 – trees that have grown from seedlings as small as my hand to stately pines.

As BeckyB of Winchester’s Square Challenge moves into week three of TreeSquare, I wondered what photos I might have of these natural wonders, these organic composites of cellulose fibers which have graced our planet for more than 375 million years.  It turns out – not too many but enough to cover a year of seasons.

Tree locations ( although some no more):

  • Spring blossoms – St. Paul, April 2021
  • Summer loss – Rochester, July 2013
  • Autumn brilliance – Moldova, October 2018
  • Winter calm – Inseli, November 2012