By Nina Joss
last time it started, I wasn’t here.
sure, I got to dance by the river with my friends,
but not to this soundtrack.
this music,
I think of it as springtime,
the months of April and May
when there’s thunder in the sky,
heat lightening,
an oasis of life in my backyard.
last year, I missed the
farmer’s market
and sitting on the front porch on warm evenings.
there’s a way the air smells in Michigan in the summer,
something about June in Ann Arbor.
maybe I’ll bring the hammock out again.
we’ll get bubble tea and hang in the arb like we did in 2018
I’ll probably get to go to the el cabino this year.
it’s bonfires in the backyard and Dad
found our old ripstick in the garage and I
rode it to the end of the street.
I didn’t think we’d all be back here
until Christmas.
maybe there is good in this coming home.