Summer in the Middle Class: Daniel Halpern

All over America
it's suddenly
mid-July
We're chasing our sons around
the yard
with balls and sticks
We are lumbering
because we are overweight
and a little older
being survivors
of the baby boom
making good the legacy
At sundown
a million barbeques ignite
as if from a single match
Webers
Crestlines
international hibachis
and the sad slabs of meat
begin to emerge
from their various marinades
the tables get set
and the mosquitoes awaken
for the evening meal

When they have finished
what is rightfully theirs
the children are removed
from the tables
and the adults open
another bottle or can of beer
The evenings are special
this time of year
the heat finally bearable
the coals a coolish grey
dying into themselves
It's what happens in unison
that makes America America
the lights going off
the fluorescent show
of t.v. coming on
and then
the total darkness


The poem and the picture are very closelt related. The picture shows a family at a barbeque on a typical summer day. The family is together enjoying the pleasures of the typical middle class life that Halpern is portraying though his poem. That is why I like this poem so much, it reminds me of my early life as a child in my middle class family. This poem is like a story of my life in the past and Halpern has depicted a perfect picture of it.