The poem Summertime by Charlie Smith does two things. It delicately yet accurately portrays an older New York during the summer. It talks of the sun at it’s most intense ["like a ripped white shirt"], the sound of a radio that you can hear but are not really listening to ["on the radio dismantles certain soft pleadings"], the presence of the ocean beyond the city. The poem also talks of the aspirations of inhabitants of New York.The parts of the poem that I interpreted as aspirations of New Yorkers are “a young man dreaming of a fortune turns in his sleep fitfully “, “It is vague near the sad declarations lovers make, and the tools of an appropriate diversion fail to persuade“, “derelict students caper and preen, longing for night. The streets shine after rain“, “Those who draw sustenance from the reflection of beauty, pull the shades, like men who have returned from prison, and weep into their hats”. These excerpts indirectly describe a longing for a better life, possibly one that the changing of the seasons will bring.
Tags: poem, poetry, reading response, Smith, Summertime
