Gears click large boats up lift hills
drop them 40 feet into pool of water
Jewish summer campers go eyes
wide on the bridge
centered in the splash zone.

I smile at their awe
under my umbrella
mostly for the sun.
The mist is nice.
I’m a vampire I joke to
children who ask.

Their parents see red hair,
pale skin and know the truth;
far less fantastical.

“Being in that wave is like
being in the house of G*d”
a boy says, adjusting his kippah,
wringing water from his shirt.

He doesn’t notice I am
struck silent, bewildered
the beauty of his prose.
Potentially the next Alkabetz
or Stein or Ginsburg?

I look to the sun
pray to whoever may listen.
Do not take this boy’s words.
We will need them.

Mitch Roshannon is a proud resident of Minersville. He graduated from Susquehanna University in 2019 with a degree in creative writing and English literature. He works in the amusements industry and is currently on the board of a local charity that built his county’s first all-inclusive playground.