The Annual Outing

George had his Sunday,

carefully composed dots

of light and dark,

bustled skirts, demure bonnets,

verticals of parasols and tree boles

fine for leisurely, outwardly constrained, nineteenth-century Paris.

Vermont summers are too short.

We bustle, unbonneted,

to spread ourselves in every patch

of sun, to catch the light,

the welcome warmth

(except on days so hot, so humid,

we seek air-conditioned comfort,

perhaps in the nearest gallery),

Unbound, stripped down, we relax

In splashes and vibrant slashes

of light and dark,

(except on days so hot, so humid

we seek air-conditioned comfort,

perhaps in the nearest gallery),

the verticals of tree boles the sole hint

some things remain true, no matter the trappings.

Parks & Recreation was a collaborative show by Bryan Memorial Gallery, Jeffersonville, Vermont & Bennington Museum, Bennington, Vermont, depicting some of Vermont’s 55 state parks, from May - September 2022.