“ode to summer” by Cheyanne Anderson

every time I go onto my balcony

bare feet on dusty cement

and look down the street

towards the subway

towards the market

towards the road straight to the beach

the air gets a little warmer

and I can feel the spring preparing,

about to pass me by
_
and I hope I’ll make it out in time to buy a new sundress

and a pair of sandals

because summer somehow always catches me by surprise

and by the time I’ve thought to embrace the way humidity sits on skin

there’s a bite in the air and it’s gone again
_
I keep dreaming of ways to catch it
like a firefly in a jar
(only temporary)
so I can see it up close
so I can remember to notice the sweat on the back of my neck
and the proof it serves
that I was alive that day
so I can skip down sidewalks
so I can lie in the park
so I can chill another bottle of wine
so I can kiss and kiss and kiss
so I can forget to put on sunscreen
so I can walk until my feet ache
so I can embrace the way my hair frizzes from my scalp like a crown
so I can fall in love in ways I’m not sure I deserve
so I can remember to admire the way the fire hydrant down the street
(somehow always breaking open)
washes away cigarette butts and receipts and regrets
and makes a babbling brook on Bushwick streets
just until the repairman comes on Monday
just until I can bring myself to open the jar and let it go
and whisper well wishes into the first breeze of autumn

my heart is too big for this bedroom, I think

_
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Cheyenne Anderson is a current student at Pace University, where she is studying theatre in the Pace School of Performing Arts. Originally from Kentucky, she now resides in Brooklyn with her two cats. Her short play, “The Letter,” was a semifinalist in the 2019 Kentucky New Play Series. She is currently a fellow with Pace Storytelling Fellowship for Equity and Inclusion.

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