a piece of profile

i was born in obscurity

outside a small country town’s limits

in a plank shack

i kept a few memories

that come into my head

that i still carry around

that i visit now and then

the dust and the cracks

filled everything

even spider’s webs

on the poor tamarisk trees

a perfect fit to go

with the smells of mustiness and dread

of my recall

and i wonder now

outside of the bits and pieces

here and there

to make the collective whole

i wonder how

why none of them then

really made sense

while i was just there

there in a fog of consciousness

outside of a few other memories back then

like how i loved the smell of crayons

mixed with modeling clay

along with drawing paper,

the smooth textured kind

with its shade of cream brown

filling the air with its clean rustic scent,

craving to be written, covered with marks

while it's kin,

the ruled white paper

with thin margins of red

stayed in the teacher’s off limits vault

only for writing of in manuscript

to compliment the thrill

of our own personal use

of a plastic cylindrical,

Lindy brand pen,

its mark a tiny white seal,

a ball on its nose,

replete with a chromed pocket clip

at my command,

exuding its cargo of precious blue ink

creating the words that smelled

like rare, exotic tincture conveying my wish

as figures and words flowed from its wonderful tip

these things blended to form,

inspired my thoughts

and stayed with me to the reading of books

pages thereof glossy and thick,

pastel faces of kids and their pets

in the 50’s innocence,

“of run Spot run!”

and "see Jane play"

a world bound with rough texture of cloth

stretched and dyed with edges thick

i grew up along with these

to make a wave of nostalgia deep

of how i walked

down the library at lunch

while the rest played at recess

i buried in books

forgetting the dust and the cracks

the squalor of my childhood and the shack

i smell deeply the dream

the intoxicating waft

of pens, papers and books

Reviews

[Onlyme]

Wonderful in-depth read about childhood memories at nursery or school.