This year the neighbors’ pool
was still green and cloudy
at Memorial Day,
a family illness delaying
the usual shock-and-awe
campaign to bring crystal
clear chlorine joy and radio
blaring frivolity to our summer.

This year, my daughters began
their upstairs window-watching
early and are rewarded
finally, finally
at the end of June:
not only clear blue water but
a two-person flamingo-
shaped inner tube
circling, circling
the blow-up raft a mesmerizing
spectacle of long flamingo neck
visible even at yard-level peeking
over the privacy fence.