[To my childhood friend, Martha]
Muddy puddles
And balls of clay.
Rain-slick streets
And friends at play.
We wandered ‘hoods,
And built big forts.
We played in sprinklers
In polka-dot shorts.
We drank from hoses;
We played hula-hoop.
We ate salty seaweed
On the neighbor’s stoop.
We dreamed big dreams
Of solving mysteries,
We made up rhymes
With hickory-dickory.
We played recorder,
A kind of flute.
We sat on doormats
Made of jute.
On Halloween,
We made a haul.
A load of sugar,
Ten pounds in all.
We played outside,
‘Til it was dark.
We’d stay all day
At the neighborhood park.
We played mah-jong
And shared our tomes.
Your encyclopedia
You always loaned.
I don’t know where
That world has gone.
But as time travels,
It’s just begun.
Blues assignment
[For a Music assignment, we had to write some Blues lyrics, so here are mine.
Hope you can imagine it to a blues rhythm. I was imagining myself as a young
woman again, not knowing how to deal with aggressive men.]
———————————————————————————–
[Parentheses indicate speech]
I’m leavin’ the city, gonna find me a country home,
(You know) I’m leavin’ the city, gonna find me a country home,
You know the city ain’t so pretty; it’s just got me down.
You know, it just got too crowded; people all around.
You know, it just got too crowded; people all around.
No place for a girl to breathe, and they all clownin’ around.
‘Course when I got to the country, things were just as bad.
‘Course when I got to the country, things were just as bad.
What’s a girl to do? — all the men are mad.
Well, I’m back in the city; nowhere else to go (don’t seem to be).
Well, I’m back in the city; nowhere else to go (right now).
Just ask God to take control; and I’ll be heaven bound.
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Commentary, Poems
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