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Summer at the Range

Alyssa Devlin Poetry

we lie motionless on the mats. we mow the grass. we festoon the air with rockets. we read book after book (the entire Harry Potter series; as much of Atlas Shrugged as one can bear). we braid each others’ hair. we take the 4-wheeler for a ride. we get the 4-wheeler stuck in a stream. we don’t ask for help. we never ask for help. we take the other 4-wheeler for a ride. we take turns going for jogs in the grassy, tick-filled fields. we take turns going for jogs on the dusty trails. it’s hot. sometimes shaded. we get sunburned. we get tan. we read book after book (paperbacks. Catcher In The Rye. no poetry. never poetry.) we braid each others’ hair. we refill our Nalgenes four times a day. we pee frequently behind the shed. we pick up the cash drawer. we jog across the stadium to stand indoors on cool, shaded concrete. we lay out. we count the mountain bikers. we count the cash drawer. we back the work truck into our father’s truck. we back our father’s truck into the work truck. we make riddles. we guess the riddles. we break the riddles. it rains. we lay out in the rain. we stick our tongues out. we revel in the rain. we curse the rain. we stay outside. we hide indoors. we clean the guns. we load the guns. we shoot the guns. we load the guns. we give the guns to strangers. the strangers never miss.

About Alyssa Devlin
Alyssa Devlin is an MFA candidate in Poetry at George Mason University in Virginia. She currently lives in DC, commutes to Virginia, and dreams of writing poems from the mountains -- any mountains quite far from here.

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