4 hours ago
Lake House
The tracks were laid a hundred years ago
to carry coal from nearby western states
and summer tourists coming from the east.
A playground for the restless city folk:
the grand hotel that burnt in 1912,
a child's amusement park with ride-on train
that wrapped around the boulders, through the grove.
Canoes and rowboats crossed the lake to reach
an outdoor stage and dance beneath the stars.
They started building summer bungalows,
one ticket stretched the span of urban heat;
on little plots the wood-framed boxes rose
just barely large enough to load the kids
in bunks, have breakfast and a midday meal,
their dinners roasted on a lakeside fire.
A generation later, children raised
to cherish memories of nighttime swims.
their laughter bouncing on the evening breeze
now questioned why they ever had to leave.
Additions here, additions there expand
each little shelter bit by bit until
each one becomes a piecework of a home.
This is from the Blank Verse thread, I went to smooth the meter and ended up messing around a bit so am posting hoping for some crit that might help it.
The tracks were laid a hundred years ago
to carry coal from nearby western states
and summer tourists coming from the east.
A playground for the restless city folk:
the grand hotel that burnt in 1912,
a child's amusement park with ride-on train
that wrapped around the boulders, through the grove.
Canoes and rowboats crossed the lake to reach
an outdoor stage and dance beneath the stars.
They started building summer bungalows,
one ticket stretched the span of urban heat;
on little plots the wood-framed boxes rose
just barely large enough to load the kids
in bunks, have breakfast and a midday meal,
their dinners roasted on a lakeside fire.
A generation later, children raised
to cherish memories of nighttime swims.
their laughter bouncing on the evening breeze
now questioned why they ever had to leave.
Additions here, additions there expand
each little shelter bit by bit until
each one becomes a piecework of a home.
This is from the Blank Verse thread, I went to smooth the meter and ended up messing around a bit so am posting hoping for some crit that might help it.