Scrawlers

His skin still makes me think of sunlight-
all freckled, deep and golden.
He'd always smell so warm, so raw,
almost like summer itself.
Some days he'd be rough, always he'd be free.
As for me, I'd just be strung along in wonder
either drowning in his sea breeze kisses
or dancing away in his careless smile.
He peeled away this skin of mine
and for a while, I was as raw as he.
I was a live wire.

And then?
Summer ended.
Life went back on its course.

A time in my life is represented by this, this thing I created. Once I was so proud of it, and now it sits collecting dust.

No longer!

Oiling up the hinges and tightening some screws brought it back into working order. But form matters, too. Some say more than any other function. Perhaps a touch of paint here and there would make it as comfortable on my mantle as it is in my memories. Something to engender public displays of pride.

More paint awaits it. Muted colors to highlight its content. After all, only content can create character.

Minnesota (first)

Iowa, Michigan, Dakotas, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Kansas (nearby)

California, Texas, Florida, New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Illinois (well populated)

Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Arkansas (Southerners travel)

Indiana, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Kentucky (big enough)

Kansas, Arizona, Missouri, New Mexico, Oklahoma (close enough)

Heading west, Colorado, Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Oregon, Washington (easy)

Conversely, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts (rare treats)

Hawaii (Mount Rushmore, a long drive from Honolulu)

Throw in Alaska, two Carolinas, two Virginias; only one remains.

In a parking lot unremarkable to anyone else, a license plate declares ironically, "Delaware, The First State".

Fifty!