"In the Good Old Summertime" (Michael Ruby)

In the Good Old Summer Time
Michael Ruby

            —For Mary Ford

In the good old lemon elegance
Megalomaniacal summer time
In the good old elastic blueprints
Soft real estate this summer time
Strolling through Tory bottomland
Morgan melted the shady
And dice prolong the lane
With seasoned eaglets
Mexican blues your baby
Mandarin professionals mine
You hold premium soda
Heartless tupelos plagued her hand
Press plastic and she
Belted ice monster holds yours
And that’s a precious peace sign
Diamond horseshoes a very good sign
That she’s red sugar
Almonds mask your tootsie wootsie
In the good old placement soup
Solomonic summer time

In the good old plastic gasoline

Pell-mell summer time

In the good old purple machines

Mascara opens summer time

Strolling through lefthanded force fields

Toys rising the shady

Peaceable development lane

With primetime parking lot

Heavenly silver your baby

Seasoned eaglets mine

You hold plastic Rangoons

Precious membrane her hand

Sincerity breathes and she

Meaty begonias hold yours

And that’s parallel sauce

Leather orifices a very good sign

That she’s omnivorous eelgrass

Monstrous pie your tootsie wootsie

In the good old oily fractures

Whales talkin’ through summer time

In the good old sordid ether

Position holograms for summer time

In the good old monster factory

Makeup performs through summer time

Strolling through ambulance regions

Pinecones polish the shady

Lampblack neglect the lane

With telltale megalomania

Mesmerizing blue your baby

Elevated feathers mine

You hold purple plastic boys

Leather salvation her hand

Devilish soybeans and she

Household plastic hold yours

And that’s somatic ice

Breathing eagles a very good sign

That she’s boiling blue bananas

Morganatic toothaches your tootsie wootsie

In the good old mama petunias

Onyx eagles through summer time

"In the Good Old Summertime" by Michael Ruby appears online in the current poetry section of The Straddler. Ruby is the author of two poetry books, At an Intersection and Window on the City. He is currently at work on several new books of poetry: The Mouth of the Bay, based on pre-Socratic propositions; Close Your Eyes, transcriptions of what he sees with his eyes closed; and American Songbook and The Star-Spangled Banner, two related works using lyrics from 20th century American popular songs and the national anthem. His blog is Fleeting Memories.