Camping Out in Autumn Days
by Michael Escoubas

My brothers and I couldn’t wait
to leave the city behind;
school was out for Staff Improvement Day
and autumn foliage painted rainbows
swaying in the breeze.

Dad had staked out a choice
campsite a hundred miles downstate
along the Vermilion River.
We pitched our canvas tent
with rope and iron stakes,

drug the green canoe to water’s edge,
set out the Coleman stove, the Igloo
cooler with root beer and lemonade,
gathered kindling, and circled stones
for roasting marshmallows.

The best part though, was simply
being there, the three of us
and Mom and Dad, mingling with
the sounds of night, voices low,
surrounded by the lantern’s soft glow.

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