My father & I found a campsite overrun by pomp

& sanctioned squarely. The extended families

Must’ve taken their time in the afternoon to bolster 15-

Pronged tents, or one father did it all in the fifteen

Before we got there. In any case the lot was substantial

So we backed in sideways, our feet facing the lake.

49. My father. Fifty-six. Adjacent others keeping

The kids busy while numbers kept them warm. We kept

Trying, blowing like furious men into our kind of structure,

Wondering why nothing caught. Not long after

I clambered back into the camper & made a to-do list:

Pack for Atlanta

Get computer fixed

Find husband

Stay happy—

I opened to rips of merigold over the water.

Henry Koskoff