Summertime

I was the girl who played in the mud; coated

school shoes in kindergarten with it;

destroyed my Momma’s walls with my dirt

covered hands; dripped sludge on the carpet;

just because I lived in a trailer didn’t mean

I had to be dirty; sometimes I laid in it;

on the hottest days, it cooled me down into

a slumber; after momma’s screaming, I’d wash

my mud softened hair, watch out the window

while the boys kept playing in puddles.

Heather Loudermilk currently lives in Knoxville, Tn. with her partner and 2 cats. She has a BA from Hollins University. Her work has been published in Still: The Journal, Fredericksburg Literary and Art Review, and Artemis Journal.

You can reach her at https://heatherlloudermilk.carrd.co/ and you can find her on Instagram (heatherlloudermilk).