BACKYARD

Everyone should have a backyard
at least once in life
You can dig to China
Play badminton
Tend to your hydrangeas
Pitch a tent
and camp out with your best friend
Mow a lawn
Sun bathe with a cool drink
and if you wait long enough
watch the stars and galaxies reveal themselves
You can rake leaves
and send them back into the sky
by bonfire
And if you ever dig all the way to China
you could end up in someone's backyard.

Reviews

[Rita L. Sev]

Didn't have my own backyard in the city, but my grandparents had a half acre that was exactly the kind of bliss your poem describes. You took me back there, John, and I'd rather be there than China any day...

[rutherford]

Glad you liked it. I have a memory of being 6 o 7 and digging a hole in my back yard and telling my father i was digging to china.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

did all that when i was kid...didn't have a backyard in NY...apartment building, fifth floor...a park across the street...but in Illinois...we had a nice backyard ....you brought it all back...helped me relive my youth...although i never quite got to China...and when i was a kid, we didn't have FM radio then.

did almost get to alaska though...built an igloo in my back yard that i could almost stand up in...up near chicago we had some pretty deep snows.

i love this poem...

[rutherford]

jacob--glad i could take you back to the memory in illinois. very cool about the igloo. neighbors build one in their FRONT yard this winter. I actually did think i could did to china when i was about six. thanks for reviewing.

[Pryde Foltz]

I had a backyard growing up and yes, they are fields of imagination, for sure.

[rutherford]

Thanks Pryde. I set up a badminton net this weekend for my daughter and it triggered this.

[Pryde Foltz]

You are lucky man;)