Summer comes
Wedged between the sacred cycles
Of Easter and Advent.

Summer comes in the liturgical calendar.
Of Ordinary Times, the Ordinal,
marking of a different kind of sacred.

Summer comes like the pool of a lake,
Stretching forth without ritual
To greet the stars that meet the dawn.

Summer is not like spring –
A whirlwind of blooming and bursting forth
In a rush to arrive.

Summer is not like winter –
That drops to its knees in the deepness of snow
And waits          in prayer      for new beginnings.

Summer, like fall, has its colors
But not the leaves that fall
Or the birds that migrate back home.

Summer comes slow as a snail,
Sitting in our midst
marking slime trails across grass and ground.

Summer comes with the chorus of birds
Singing their morning matins
High in the chapel of their trees.

Summer comes in the shimmering heat
On cartops, on charcoal grills, with the smell of burgers
And kids splashing and screaming under the water hose.

Summer pulls itself into community
With picnics and celebrations and reunions
With baseball and fireworks and sandcastles.

Summer comes in a long drawn in breath
And then releases itself
with a thunderstorm.

Summer comes with squealing car tires,
Baked pavement under bare feet and
With the bending of the train’s whistle in the heat.

Summer comes with popsicles dripping down the chin
And fields and fields of corn standing
And waving in the wind to the passersby.

Summer comes with the buzz of cicadas,
With the nightly chorus of crickets,
And the flickering lights of fireflies.

Summer comes with bees sucking nectar,
With spiders weaving nightly webs,
With butterflies preparing for transformation.

Summer comes in the breeze
Under the shade of trees and
It comes in sweat on the brows.

Summer comes and stays forever
It seems, as we gather in the harvest
With sunburnt faces and bodies aching for rest.

Summer, pray, grant us your awe to notice.
Give us a spirit of thanksgiving
For all you provide in this ordinary times.

Jo Ann Koltyk  7/11/21

Author Bio

Jo Ann Koltyk has been a journal writer since her teens. She discovered the Progoff method called the Intensive Journal Workshop and took many of these workshops before becoming a facilitator of that program in the midwest U.S.  Jo Ann received a Phd in Cultural Anthropology with a minor in Ethnomusicology. Her anthropological fieldwork was with the Hmong refugees in Wisconsin in which she wrote a book for the new immigrant series called “New Pioneers in the Heartland: Hmong Life in Wisconsin”.  Jo Ann is also a pianist and piano teacher, and teaches Journaling for well-being to seniors in my county.  She is an engaging member of the IAJW.

Special Note

Jo Ann wrote the Summer Comes poem flowing from our IAJW monthly journal prompts that were shared in June.

Get Your Free Journal Prompts Here – creative ideas and inspiration for what to write in your journal!