Nebraska, Summer
by Greta Bolger
Like tar, she softens in the heat,
a would-be hazard elsewhere.
Her father, careless sentry
stays hidden under the truck
that’s never not in need of fixing,
soles of his beat-up boots
keeping watch. Not many lunatics
this far out anyway, no cars, nights so dark
every star can be seen and counted.
Listen. Soft radio clear as glass
all the way from Lincoln, love songs
rhythmic as she rocks, wood kissing wood.
Greta Bolger lives in Northwest lower Michigan, where she writes poems, makes strange paintings, and increasingly since 2016, longs to be a Canadian citizen. Her recent work has been published in Eclectica Magazine, Ekphrastic Review, and upcoming in The Peaceable Kingdom: Michigan Artists Respond to Edward Hicks.
Greta's poem, “Nebraska, Summer,” won first place in the Interboard Poetry Competition in February 2018 where she was representing The Waters Poetry Workshop.