School's Out 1960

They are like warriors
With Globites brandished
And wide smiles in
The wilting heat - a sunken
Corrugated heat that
Makes gum-soft the hard
Chalked-up bitumen,
Opening cracks
For the New Year.
But this is end of term
And the tangled cohort
Of pressed limbs and blind cheek
Is out for the big break.
They mob at the gate,
And scrum in passages,
Scuffing at steps
Whooping at boredom's finale.
Now is the quitting of books
And incinerations joy,
A great fiery loosing of routine.

In January, somewhere
Between the lassitude of beaches
And stuffed bellies,
Ennui will return.
Snapping the gates back in place.