The Mid-Afternoon of Her Childhood

By Ephraim Scott Sommers

A Mexican girl barefoots up 43^rd,

Dollar blossoming from fist

And the wind chimes quiet

As the ice cream van hiccups

Along to the soundtrack of popsicles

And the chinking of sprinklers

Who have found it possible to stretch a rainbow across a lawn.

 

Are you my Ophelia? The mailman whispers

To the housewife,

And the distance from sidewalk to front porch

Becomes something like a kind of Nile,

In which any number of people, at any moment, could likely drown.

 

Ephraim Scott Sommers was born in Atascadero, California. A singer and guitar player, Sommers has produced three full-length albums of music and toured internationally both as a solo artist and with his band Siko. Most recently, his poetry has appeared in Afterimage, Barnstorm, City Works, New Madrid, San Diego Poetry Annual and Versedaily. His poetry is forthcoming in Blue Earth Review, Columbia Review, Philadelphia Stories, and The Coachella Review. He received his MFA from San Diego State University. He is currently submitting his first book for publication.

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