nightswimming or report from west bumblefuck

Male fireflies flashing in unison along the riverbanks in Malaysia
hard to believe that we are already careening wildly through August. the summer is slipping away and what with the record heat here in StL, I'm not too sad to see it go. at least, not at the moment. this weekend was one where you have a chance to sit around and reflect on the end of summer and what it means. maybe it was the fact that we got out of the city- staying at Laura's waaay out in west county on Friday night. hiking though Castlewood state park and staring out at the Meramec from the bluffs above, thin and narrow, withdrawn from the banks. swimming late into the evening under a sky with stars, laughing at ourselves in the water. walking home with wet towels and empty beer bottles, the smell of chlorine lingering like a film. these moments get added to endings of summers past.

at the end of my 15th summer, I saw REM in concert at the Starwood amphitheater in Nashville during a thunderstorm... which I would deem, as with many events both momentous and minuscule, a defining moment of my adolescence. we had paid the extra money to have seats under the awning, but we were so close to the back, we got wet anyways. Michael Stipe dedicated this song to all the beautiful people singing and dancing in the grass. my newly purchased rock n roll t-shirt smelled of rain and beer. this song will always elicit a reaction in me... part desire, part fear. feelings that echo the departure of summer, as we inch slowly towards it.

Nightswimming deserves a quiet night
The photograph on the dashboard, taken years ago,
Turned around backwards so the windshield shows
Every streetlight reveals the picture in reverse
Still, it's so much clearer
I forgot my shirt at the water's edge
The moon is low tonight

Nightswimming deserves a quiet night
I'm not sure all these people understand
It's not like years ago,
The fear of getting caught,
Of recklessness and water
They cannot see me naked
These things, they go away,
Replaced by everyday

Nightswimming, remembering that night
September's coming soon
I'm pining for the moon
And what if there were two
Side by side in orbit
Around the fairest sun?
That bright, tight forever drum
Could not describe nightswimming

You, I thought I knew you
You, I cannot judge
You, I thought you knew me,
This one laughing quietly underneath my breath
Nightswimming

The photograph reflects,
Every streetlight a reminder
Nightswimming deserves a quiet night, deserves a quiet night

(Berry/Buck/Mills/Stipe)