Sleepy Summers

My name is Rachel Carter. At the time of this writing, I am a senior majoring in English and Writing at Olivet Nazarene University. For me, poetry is a breath of fresh air for me when I have nothing else to do. That’s sort of what these poems are about--having nothing to do in the summer, especially in 2020 during the pandemic. Home is in Ingleside, Illinois and after awhile, things stay the same there and I like static environments but I’m learning that I want to grow and change and I don’t think I had realized that yet when I was writing these poems. I found comfort in my Wisconsin vacations with my grandparents and I was afraid of leaving for college a year later. So I wrote about what I wanted to do whether I felt good or bad that day. I wrote about what scared me and what excited me and what I was thankful for and what I was nostalgic about—like the houses I used to live in, especially the one my family calls the old Butterfield house. But that summer was sleepy and when you’re sleepy you drift and dream. So these poems are mostly me day dreaming, over-romanticizing or allowing intrusive thoughts to haunt my mind