IT'S SUMMER AND IT'S HOT.... I WANT SOME RED KOOL-AID

Red is the Flavor of Kool-Aid
(for my ghetto hood)
Red is the flavor of the summer sun reflecting a kaleidoscope
of images, a rainbow of colors, the flavor of hope
deflecting, notions of poverty
and squatter sovereignty
in project buildings and tenements...
memories laced with sentiment.
It is the taste of sweat dripping from young chocolate brows
Hoping to catch a cool breeze from a broken fan covered with wet towels.
The texture of a new food stamp when we the family was low on money
taste of cheap candy like chick o stixs and bit o honey....
I know you remember the flavor red
it's the thickness of government cheese on toasted bread
oiliness of tin canned peanut butter and staled crackers
The coolness of flavored ice and lemon tart lip smackers
It is pure blissful thought cemented in a moment in time
The sound of the ice cream man and you had one shiny dime
The blending of colors from a Popsicle split between best friends
The first time your heart was broken and you swore it would never mend
Your discovery of slow dragging at the junior high sock hop
It is the nectar of life and you would never want to spill a drop
If you knew then what you know today,
Cuz there ain’t no way
You can forget that red is sound of a slammed domino and grandpa yelling "fish grease"
Grandma’s pound cake and how you would sneak an extra piece
Your uncles playing pitty - pat, always five cents a hand
You and your friends in the street playing kick the can
The smile on the face of a country cousin visiting from down home
The stench of blue magic and heat off a burning straightening comb

2BCONTINUED.....
What's your summer flavor?