Sunday Morning Poetry

from A Coney Island of the Mind

Fortune
has its cookies to give out
which is a good thing
since it's been a long time since
that summer in Brooklyn
when they closed off the street
one hot day
and the
FIREMEN
turned on their hoses
and all the kids ran out in it
in the middle of the street

and there were
maybe a couple dozen of us
out there
with water squirting up
to the
sky

and all over
us

there was maybe only six of us
kids altogether
running around in our
barefeet and birthday
suits

and I remember Molly but then
the firemen stopped squirting their hoses
all of a sudden and went
back in
their firehouse
and

started playing pinochle again
just as if nothing
had ever
happened

while I remember Molly
looked at me and
ran in

because I guess really we
were the only ones there

~ Lawrence Ferlinghetti

There is a wonderful children's book version of this poem by David Frampton. It is full of the most amazing, celebratory woodcuts.