Summertime Is for Mistake-Making

In the rural South, there's a lot of time and little to do in the summer. Making your own fun, then, often leads to poor decision-making, and when I discovered this poem by Nate Pritts, I immediately returned to memories of many ill-advised summertime adventures in Marion, Kentucky.

Endless Summer

BY NATE PRITTS

. . .

It was the summer I fucked up    the summer    fucked up    me
fucked up    a fuck-up in the summer    & I spent time laying under stars
too much    time I wasted    the stars    you lied to me under the stars
& the summer was endless    the summer endless    it was an endless summer

. . .

. . .

endless    & I said things like    “If I ever see you again”
but    I’ll never see you again    I never saw you again    I made sure of that
& I circled    the lake    I went in circles    the lake was endless    it was
summer    I fucked up    too much time & I never saw    you again    & I

. . .

. . .

circled & it was    endless & the stars    lied to me    the summer
light    moving so slowly    I saw the summer light move    endless
& when I see you    the trees will cluster    green rage green    trees raging
with love    endless love & I’ll never see you    again    I made sure of that

. . .

. . .

wasted under the stars    the slow summer    light    the endless fuck-up
& you never again    you lovely    you summer you    everything that is now
never again    whatever that may be    the rage I loved    me under the stars
then & now    endless    wasting away me    haze wandering around endless

. . .

. . .

haze    it was endless    too much time & you    lied to me & I    said things like
I can’t describe the air on my skin can you    can you please    I know it was
important & the light from stars    moved    so slowly & you    moved off
forever    how can you save everything    everything    important    endless

. . .

. . .

summer light    the fuck-up    the lake a circle    circling    the lake
how can you save everything    how can I    answer you the light of summer
stars I’m sorry    for my light    the endlessness of my endless & my    fuck-up
the me that is    now    looking back & thinking    & this summer circling

. . .

Nate Pritts, "Endless Summer" from The Wonderfull Yeare (a shepherd’s calendar). Copyright © 2009 by Nate Pritts. Reprinted by permission of Cooper Dillon Books. www.cooperdillon.com
Source: The Wonderfull Yeare (a shepherd’s calendar) (Cooper Dillon Books, 2009)