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Thread: How much more time on the swings?

  1. #1
    It wasn't me Jerrybaldy's Avatar
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    How much more time on the swings?

    How much more time on the swings?
    No care if it's tea time.
    The sun is yet to reach terraced roofs,
    Mother looks old in her headscarf,
    stingers they grow by the dockleaves,
    dogs are roaming unwanted.
    I swing toward the afternoon moon,
    worn sandles and an exposed middle toe
    point to the branch
    where I once sat with Sarah.
    In twenty years from now
    I will be my dad,
    cocksure and brylcremed
    like a kid in itchy trousers
    longs to be.
    The see-saw just became free,
    who will see-saw with me?
    Sky blue is succumbing to black,
    I am flying high
    into a moths and butterflies sky.
    The world is mine dad and everything in it,
    but how much more time on the swings?

    For those who believe,
    no explanation is necessary.
    For those who do not,
    none will suffice.

  2. #2
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    Really nice moment this JB, supremely evocative. Personally, I couldn't wait to grow up - lol. I never went to the park with my dad, at least, not that I remember. I do remember him taking me to work though.

    An aircraft hanger is awfully big when you're 6. I remember the propwash from a DC4, or was it a Constellation? Nearly blew me off my feet, and I had to be more than 50 yards away. I remember the smell of aviation fuel, oil and hydraulic fluid mixed with exhaust. Much more interesting than swings

    Live long and prosper - H

  3. #3
    It wasn't me Jerrybaldy's Avatar
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    I never went to the park with my dad either Hawk.

    For those who believe,
    no explanation is necessary.
    For those who do not,
    none will suffice.

  4. #4
    Still, on a chalk plateau Bar22do's Avatar
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    Disquieting and bringing to (my) mind some strong memories.

    I loved it all, Jerry, found particularly poignant:

    "worn sandles and an exposed middle toe
    point to the branch
    where I once sat with Sarah."

    and

    "who will see-saw with me?"

    the see-saw, as you use it is grand!

    Good poetry here, and, of course, not the first time (it's an euphemism)!


  5. #5
    In the pines. Catamite's Avatar
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    You've captured a moment lucidly heere. It makes a lovely read.
    ''Actual self-awareness is the knowledge that we are all characters in someone elses dream.''

  6. #6
    Registered User Delta40's Avatar
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    Good read Jerry linking the past into the future using wonderful devices. I would probably change into a moths and butterflies sky to into a moth and butterfly sky.
    Before sunlight can shine through a window, the blinds must be raised - American Proverb

  7. #7
    a dark soul Haunted's Avatar
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    The child's voice here is very convincing, innocent mixed with angst. Time on the swing metaphor is spot on. This makes me sad:
    Mother looks old in her headscarf

    And here's a lovely image, unsightly shoes and odd toes and puppy love:

    I swing toward the afternoon moon,
    worn sandles and an exposed middle toe
    point to the branch
    where I once sat with Sarah.


    I hope the narrator gets to stay on the swing a bit longer, growing up is not what it's cracked up to be.

    It's a wonderful and moving read Jer and reminds me of how much I missed your stuff. Please post more. x

    "But do you really, seriously, Major Scobie," Dr. Sykes asked, "believe in hell?"
    "Oh, yes, I do."
    "In flames and torment?"
    "Perhaps not quite that. They tell us it may be a permanent sense of loss."
    "That sort of hell wouldn't worry me," Fellowes said.
    "Perhaps you've never lost anything of importance," Scobie said.

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