THE LAST DAY OF CHILDHOOD

Time, memories and childhood

Friends would marvel
     at two rope swings hung from the rafters

One thousand feet of newsprint slung on a spool
with a bucket of American Crayons (not Crayola)

Supplies to build great structures of the world
Legos, Tinker Toys, and Lincoln Logs
     carried by caravans of Tonka Trucks

Superior to the Great Library of Alexandria:
     picture books on geography, WWII, treasures of the art world
    American history and Charles Addams cartoons
    Archives of Donald Duck, Batman and Archie comics
        selected by my sister
        bought by my mother
        read my me
        and hauled away by my father

Off in the forbidden realms:
     my grandfather's workbench
     and its cast iron vice
     that clenched and healed
     dolls, bikes and chairs

In the opposing corner
     whiteness and humming
     of an ever industrious
     washer and drier

Gurgling and rumbling
in dark rivers below
    lies the crocodile of a sump pump

Tucked in a recess
     like a scarab beetle
     a dusty old bowling trophy

A royal chamber
     enshrines artifacts as sacred as
     treasures from Tutankhamun’s tomb

And now
     as distant as the buried bones of a lost caravan

When we left the house
     my father inscribed his own hieroglyphs
     on the center basement beam
     abandoned to later civilizations.
  

Reviews

[Michael G. Smith]

I smiled often as you brought things from my childhood. I actually have an antique cylinder of tinker toys my wife bought me for Christmas one year. Sub-pumps, I remember the two we had in our basement. Comic books I still have thousands. I remember when we used to go down the laundry chute. Wonderful reminiscing piece for me and I hope for others.

[Glen Yumang Manese]

I like how this presents itself in the lines...the history and much of the stuff reminded me of childhood...now they have a place called LegoLand...and Tonka Trucks are made of plastic...not quite the same as the originals back in the day...well versed...in the this one...

[Pryde Foltz]

Moving home but taking the memories, Great write.

Type alert...
read my me

[rutherford]

thanks for the alert

[Rita L. Sev]

The treasures of childhood stay tattooed on our hearts. My mother still lives in the house where I grew up, but I wonder, when she is gone, will the house remember us, too? Well penned, John!

[Tam Warink]

Do you suppose these thoughts survive beyond time? I think these experiences are fractal and in many ways they do survive both the experience and the experiencer - perhaps there's some comfort in that. It's the common experience of children of the times; always with some overlap and with small regard to gender. The best part about a write like this is the resonance that it evokes; in both self and in others. Nicely done, Rutherford.

[rutherford]

The thoughts beyond time idea is one I think about. I'm also struck by the life of places--how a place is infused with the life lived there and then life moves on but what does it leave behind in the place? Appreciate your helpful observations about this.