Everything is white
like the sky outside

it smells clean but isn’t
dirt on the floor

it’s so hot
hotter than the beach

at the laundromat
mama and me.

At the vegetable stand
mama and me

I’m too small to see
what’s on the counter

smell ripe cantaloupe
and tomatoes

play freeze tag
with cousins.

At the beach
mama and me

its white hot
the sand burns

mama says
stay on the quilt

while she plays cards
with the other ladies.

Home now
mama and me

daddy’s favorite
for supper, spaghetti

I make roads
through the noodles

for my new car
a cheap one from Roses.

Greg Garner’s work has been exhibited in numerous venues in Massachusetts, New York and North Carolina. His writing has been published in OneOne, Jacar Press; Hive Avenue; Wingless Dreamer; and Our Sexual Health (editor) among others. He is currently working on a memoir in poetry and essay about coming of age in the early days of the AIDS pandemic.