The Snowflake Chronicles

July 4, 2013: Poems

Sunset on the Fourth of July: A Poem

I listen to explosions,
booms celebrating America's birthday.

I watch the sun descend,
behind the western mountains
and I smile.

Memories
of my childhood
in Blackwell, Oklahoman,
as I listen to firecrackers and what
sounds like cherry bombs.

Is someone in my neighborhood,
igniting fireworks
that are not safe and sane;
I wonder,
I glance nervously
out my living room window,
but all I hear are the booms
reverberating though the Las Vegas.

Evening on the Fourth of July: A Poem

Weariness sits in,
I yawn,
but I am not planning to sleep.

It is the Fourth of July,
Independence Day,
time to celebrate America's birthday.

I listen
as the celebration begins
with booms,
bangs,
cracks,
and pops.

I smile,
I laugh,
remembering my childhood;
the celebration has not changed
in the last 66 years,
we still commemorate
with noise abandon
and sparkling sky rockets.

Happy Birthday U.S.A.