I remember
years ago when I was young
sleeping on the cool hard wood
of our small house in the city
now, my sister and I had beds
but we did not have air conditioning
and in the suffocating heat of the summer nights
the cool hardwood was our friend.

I remember
waking up my father in the middle of the night
outside my window I could hear pops and bangs
"shh," he soothed me
"it's only fireworks"
as I got older
I realized they were not,
and things were not always as they seemed.