Swing on Summer Winds

Swing on Summer Winds

By: Husam (Sam) Salman

There, in the path traveled of steps

In strident lost, on the third balcony of the last row

Of townhouses, Todd Ranch – Ventura 1984

Tales of Telegraph road and ocean breezes swallowing

Gulps of eucalyptus air and minerals under

A swollen summer sun, here, in this room I shared

With my brother, comrades forever made, through space battles,

Lego’s and cars, where we were the dreamers - and we dreamt BIG!!

There, in forts of solitude we created in the marshy barranka’s edge

Of childhood venture, where the thinking birds lead us to

The depths and back again, ideas of rafts to travel down to

The sea, where the crocodiles roamed…or so we thought.

How far away we were from everyone in our minds

 My brother, in idolater leadership I worshiped,

There was no man worth following around, my

Dad in absence made plenty, so heroes came in the

Form of commercials and TV Hosts and brothers

Who made the mundane, absurd – thank you Jon!

There was family to spare, almost on call

As though we were in some third world

Or in case we forgot we came from one

Dad would yell into the phone when the

Call rang from overseas, even deafened

We heard the conversation from rooms

Down hallways vast.

In turn, it was either us or them –

When we would visit, we would sleep

On living room floors with family close

And family would be the thing I would

Wake to in weekends of warriors

And champions show

There are some impressions

That tell the tale of a man more than

Any scar, they are the ones he leaves on you

In summers lost now to fading thought

Where dreamers once roamed the unknown

With fervor and quest, here sit scratching heads

To remember the name of the crazy kid next door.