A poem by Jamie Paradis ’20 titled “summer thunderstorm smell” has been accepted for publication by Crashtest, an online biannual literary magazine for high school students. Her poem is forthcoming in Volume 10, Issue 1, which will be published in Spring 2020.
“summer thunderstorm smell”
it’s one of those summer nights
where you can see the clouds
on top of royal blue sky
I lay in my itchy hammock,
searching for stars I know
I won’t see.
the air is heavy and dense
but I like the warmth.
fireflies are gone for the night,
clocked out and carrying
tiny briefcases home
so I build my own fire,
in the pit you dug,
the way daddy taught me --
big dry logs on top
of ripped paper on top
of a magical duraflame
and roast anxieties speared
on pointy sticks,
golden brown, delicious.
I sink my toes in the warm mud below --
it was one of those
downpours you could
smell before it came
hot air splintered
by warm rain
my hair dripped on the kitchen tile as I
slipped inside
but so soon the
rain had given up
so I went out,
let myself dry out,
laying
under the sun’s
eye blue sky