How many skinned knees, cuts. bruises, fat lips, bloody noses and black eyes did we have? Stitches too and broken bones. But our parents still let us wander the countryside all day long. They knew they could not save us from gravity and thirst.
Nice. All of us poor kids who played in empty lots or in the woods have the same story. We ran, we fell, we bled, we got beat for ripping or getting blood on any relatively "new" clothes. Boys or girls. Being poor sucked in lots of ways. But compared to the angst of being raised in some "better privileged" places, I think we had more fun. Feeling the dirt beneath our feet grounded us.
My own childhood days in English trees came back to me so powerfully as your friend slid down the tree. I felt the bark on my skin and the youth we've all left behind. That was beautiful. Thanks.
Supermarket shoes--reminds me of the drugstore flip-flops my mom used to buy us (scrounging money from her purse), flat and flimsy as pancakes but enough to save us from the burn of the street.
Oh, for the days when we ran wild, got hurt, and didn't bother with parents/grownups until we needed to eat. I am not Native, but every bone in my body resonated (except, as a girl, I didn't take my shirt off after I was about 9...).
How many skinned knees, cuts. bruises, fat lips, bloody noses and black eyes did we have? Stitches too and broken bones. But our parents still let us wander the countryside all day long. They knew they could not save us from gravity and thirst.
Nice. All of us poor kids who played in empty lots or in the woods have the same story. We ran, we fell, we bled, we got beat for ripping or getting blood on any relatively "new" clothes. Boys or girls. Being poor sucked in lots of ways. But compared to the angst of being raised in some "better privileged" places, I think we had more fun. Feeling the dirt beneath our feet grounded us.
Awe, to be a child in Eastern Washington in the summer.
My own childhood days in English trees came back to me so powerfully as your friend slid down the tree. I felt the bark on my skin and the youth we've all left behind. That was beautiful. Thanks.
Supermarket shoes--reminds me of the drugstore flip-flops my mom used to buy us (scrounging money from her purse), flat and flimsy as pancakes but enough to save us from the burn of the street.
When is your poetry book coming out?!
You were the lucky ones!!
I wish every child could have a summer such as this ☀️☀️☀️
Love, love the rhyme in the last two lines of the poem along with the repetition of drinking cold water through the garden hose.
It makes me want to be a child again.
Sweet memory
Best memories of summer life. The freedom, the feeling of invincibility, the cold water from the hose. Thank you Sherman.
Beautiful. Touching. Human. Filled with vivid cinematic imagery.
beautiful. crisp.
Ah. Youth!
Oh, for the days when we ran wild, got hurt, and didn't bother with parents/grownups until we needed to eat. I am not Native, but every bone in my body resonated (except, as a girl, I didn't take my shirt off after I was about 9...).