Category: childhood
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The taste of fresh shelled walnuts
East of town along a gravel road next to a barbed wire fence a large walnut tree grew On a day ripe for playing Mom piled her kids in a ‘57’ DeSoto to pay a visit to a lonely tree We gathered up free walnuts in a burlap bag from weeds in the ditch under…
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untitled
Along a fence line of childhood dreams wild berries once grew Birds would feast among thorns for summer fruit left ungathered Now your bed linens hang on a clothes line with purple bruises scavengers have deposited of half-digested dreams you left hanging on the vine 1-4-20
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Dreaming the night before the night before Christmas
I dreamed I was trying to wake from a dream within a dream and every dream I dreamed led into another dream and I could not wake up I dreamed I met an old friend who I did not know but he knew me I dreamed that I was in a custom coffee store tasting…
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The dust behind my refrigerator
Trying to find my way back into a dream I slept in this morning Mom was trying to contact me from her grave Laying on the guilt Something about deep cleaning the kitchen for the holidays But my father kept calling out “Alice, that boy never listens leave him alone and come to bed” 12-18-19
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Dreamtime walkabout
Nameless friend buys an old house In need of repair It stands in your old neighborhood Together you walk Strange alleys and spaces That were always there But staring into the sun you were unaware You look in back yards Hoping, maybe you’ll recognize A tree or bush No trees, no gardens, no grass, the…
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Kindergarten Ned
I thought of you today who you became and if you are still alive The green army man we took from class to play with at recess Lost him in the grass we looked all recess but he stayed hidden Our promise not to tell of our theft and the lost green man in the…
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Sleeper awake
slow wave synaptic spindling Sufi dance serotonin paradox neocortical dialog episodic cataloging who wakes and dumps me here ask the librarian 11-16-19
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A boy and National Geographic magazine
Picture of a half-naked woman heavy basket on her head breasts pendulous smooth as ripe fruit You don’t recall being overcome with lust But you remember her arms and wide hips under flowered skirt Admired how strong she must be to walk so far in a hot sun You didn’t know one woman in your…
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Dreaming on a Cold Night Hundreds of Miles from Home Listening to the Furnace Hum
a prose poem =============================================== I dreamed I was at the old Black Reunion in Danville, IL with just my Granddad and I and I was playing with little boy cousins I did not know. I dreamed I was sitting on the front porch of my grandparents’ old house on Greenbush Street that was torn down…
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‘Grade School Pedagogy’ or ‘Early childhood development’
Days in the sun running through fields Pillow case butterfly net on a bent wire hanger nailed and tied to a stick Alcohol swab in a jar watch them twitch and die Stick with pin while body is soft and label for a grade 11-7-19
My husband's poetry 