Tag Archives: Childhood

on truth

one of my friends said
when you hug onto a tree
they grow
love does that

~

CLP 10/07/2022

Tiempo

Caressing the unwilling hand

Time pulls childhood

towards a luminous edge

.

humming birds recognise

the scent of childhood fears

~

Translation of Tiempo by Alejandra Pizarnik (1936 / 1972). Other and far better translations are available from professional translators, such as Dr Cecci Rossi, who ran a translation games workshop today. This is my effort.

~

CLP 5th May 2021

At the platform there stood the London train

…the London train that was packed with people

people with different places to go

places thronged with colleagues and / or friends

friends some new, some known for years

years that have fallen like blossom

blossom scented with childhood memories

memories diffused by time and tide

tide that swept clear a foreign shore

a foreign shore where lovers swam

lovers who lost their faith in Love

Love that became too wild to tame

too wild that two hearts were rent

hearts that continued to beat like muffled drums

muffled drums we reading this will not hear

we who not know when our day will come

a day from which we cannot run

~

p.s. NaPoWriMo 2021 Day Twenty One prompt; repetitive set up.

~

CLP 21/04/2020

L3 (Day 34) Carrow Bridge

Bemused pigeons and gulls

chase lifting snowflakes

above the Wensum

not being au fait with weather

maybe thinking things that fly up

contain protein not just ice

or were they playing

as school children might

flapping around with mouths wide

trying to catch ice crystals

on waggly tongues

having heard that each flake is unique

although they all taste the same

~

CLP 08/02/2021

On Playing x

Can you still call up that glee

in the pit of your guts

when wind picked up leaves and dust

devils spun the whole playground

into a delirious flock of crows

performing flips and twists

free-falling then swooping

up to hang on the vacuum formed

in the lee of a Scots Pine clump?

.

Arms out, fingers splayed like primaries

we whirled across the tarmac playing

kiss chase, ran ragged from wall to wall

making clattered flat-footed stops

and rushed to touch HOME! bricks

lungs aching from screams and squeals

of delight at being chased and disgust

at being caught and held and bumped

heads as a dry peck on chin, cheeks

or an eyelid or brow (only accidently lips)

except that wild day you let me

and it was so revolting and I ran away

and all the girls and boys joined in

the chase and held me while you kissed me

back and shouted out

with all your gut of glee

to the wind-whipped cheers of all

including the dinner ladies too

I HATE YOU, CHRISTOPHER PERRY!

~

n.b. Picture above shows that hateful Perry boy, now embodied in a larger frame, but with same lockdown (3) hair.

CLP 23/01/2021

On Playing viii

As children we played

It, British Bulldog and Kiss Chase

until told not to.

~

n.b. See the power of words?

~

CLP 22/01/2021

Dropped

Look! Up there, a balloon.

Yes, up there!

Someone’s obviously dropped it

Up there

It looks like a giant floating mushroom

Or indeed a balloon

That somebody’s dropped

Obviously

.

CLP 13/09/2020

On Memory

A tune filtered through

Happy chatter, chink and drink

“…holy ground once more”

.

n.b. The other night a song played by the Irish folk band in a bar in Southsea, from an album we listened to as children, before we had the wherewithal to buy our own, caught my brother’s attention. The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem album, bought by my father, featured a great love song, “Holy Ground“.

Hearing it being played through the talk of the bar, my brother said, “We know this one!” We did, from childhoods more than 50 years previous.

The magic of music. I could see the record player; the cabinet it sat in; the room it sat in; the view from the window; the house; the memory of singing along.

CLP 16/02/2020

I Kissed A Girl

Today’s her birthday

I was five and she was too

It wasn’t to be

.

n.b. Memory is triggered by so many random details. I recall the playground ringing to the chant, “Christopher Perry kissed….(insert name here)!”

I apologise to her for being so forward. Totally unacceptable behaviour on my part. I was out of order. No excuses. I think I have learned my lesson, although it took a while. Attitudes and behaviours learnt young need early challenge.

My elder sister had never been so embarrassed in her life. She made that quite clear.

CLP 12/01/2020

Emotional Blackmail

“I just want my kids to be happy”

So commonly heard

So unthinking said

And missing the point

Of parenthood

And childhood

.

“I don’t care what he does, as long as he’s happy”

What the children know of their parents

Who want them just to be happy

Is that they hold the keys

To all the doors

Well before they’re eighteen

.

“I’ll do anything for my babies”

Who soon learn that to sulk

Is to take control

Mumnipulate

Dadominate

Power without responsibility

.

“I don’t know where we went wrong”

So commonly heard

So unthinking said.

.

n.b. Happiness is a derived emotional state that seems to come from a sense of being at ease amongst those you respect and share purpose. Hence the attraction of online gaming and gangs. Happy families it appears to me, do things together, rather than just being an altar for feeding the children’s egotistical pleasures.

NaPoWriMo 2019 Day 20 prompt: Use speech commonly heard.

.

CLP  20/04/2019