Summer of ‘76

Hello Poetry Lovers

So who remembers that relentless summer of ‘76?! Most of us, I bet. That three weeks in July of scalding temperatures and droughts. That picture of me above said it all!

Not being a great fan of the heat, I thought I’d buried it, but clever poet Sharon Andrews gave the most wonderful prompt this week Where had Summer gone? And 1976 came flooding back……. I remember that heatwave sloped off as quickly as it had come. I’ve tried to put this over in the piece below. Read on…..

Where Had Summer Gone?

Where had summer gone?

They asked after the relentless 

heatwave of ‘76

Had it melted into badly paid

summer jobs and other heartaches?

Swallowed up by lost loves 

and the Italian boys on the street?

Half lagers in the Castle pub

while sneering at punks ?

All that remained was red peeling

skin on tired shoulders 

And a nagging hosepipe ban 

It simply merged into an indolent

August 

And crept away as fast as it came 

Wasn’t that a great prompt?! Please keep them coming, Sharon. Thank you for that.

Thanks for tuning in, PL’s. We’ll be back real soon……