My Summer

Summer left his wallet on the beach
went home to heartless parents

It’s September
and this is the rain that falls on funerals

In dry-eyed October
the mallards are beautiful again

I still think of him in sunshine
where we fished from shore and caught nothing










Richard Carr’s writing has appeared in Poetry East, Exquisite Corpse, New Letters, Painted Bride Quarterly and many other journals.  His poetry collections are Lucifer (Logan House Press 2013), Dead Wendy (FutureCycle Press 2012), Imperfect Prayers (Steel Toe Books 2012), One Sleeve (Evening Street Press 2011), Ace (Word Works Books 2009), Street Portraits (The Backwaters Press 2008), Honey (Gival Press 2008), and Mister Martini (University of North Texas Press 2008).  His chapbooks include Butterfly and Nothingness (Mudlark 2004) and Letters from North Prospect (Frank Cat Press 1997).  A former systems analyst, web designer, and tavern manager, he currently teaches English in Minneapolis.