Spring is in full swing and summer’s just around the corner. Look back on memories from a previous summer and write a poem for today’s NaPoWriMo prompt from Holly Marie Shakeshaft.
Summer of the Swift
First went the swifts.
Their swooping screams eloped
To places far away.
Away from my head
And the rooftops
The swifts left.
You stayed for a week.
Sea salt clung to my skin
Lingering like the echoes
Of comforting cries,
Stinging sun-kissed lips.
Blue eyes
Blue skies
Cheap lager and laughter.
Old Polaroids
Scattered across my mind
Strewn like the shadows of birds
Asleep on the wing.
Avocets and pink sunsets.
August days,
My bed
Left, unmade
You left
Like the swifts.
I stayed.
The photographs fade
Yet still they remain
Like,
The promise of summer;
The return of the swifts.
Holly Marie Shakeshaft
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