Saturday, June 18, 2011

Childhood memories of playing with sand

Sand Kingdom

Coarse sand on our play
pretend beach, little

grains that
fall in heavy clumps
through our soft fingers,

we scooped them up
with sun-yellow spades
and packed them into
pails of danger red;

we worked, sweat
on our backs and necks,
digging, molding walls,
bases and towers
under the monkey bars
and swings; over

and over, we packed
and overturned mounds
to build fortresses
and castles;

but as you were stabbing
murder holes with a twig,
an entire tower collapsed.

“Make it again!”

and I did; another wall
crumpled under the sun.
It's all falling apart

but we didn't stop, we
kept at it until the sun left
pink and orange ribbons
on the horizon, until

our mother hollered for us
from the window above
our crumpling kingdom
“come home now!”


Idea for this came out of HVP's photo "Colors of Summer"

Submitted for Thursday Poets Rally Week 46.

27 comments:

Anonymous said...

what a playful piece.
beautiful word play.

Happy Rally.

Ravenblack said...

Thanks Jingle. :)

Anonymous said...

This is such a beautiful poem that brings joy and peace in happy childhood memories. I loved this! Thanks for sharing it! Cindy

Ravenblack said...

Thank you, Cindy. :)

Anonymous said...

I am so delighted you stopped by my blog and visited. Just wanted to say thanks and I look forward to reading your wonderful creations! Cindy

Anonymous said...

This is stunning and vivid, it certainly brings to mind my own fond beach memories =)

Anonymous said...

Cool piece of rememberance - I enjoyed it!

Anonymous said...

nice piece and great line
pink and orange ribbons
on the horizon

nice rally

Mr. Walker said...

Great visuals in this one. I liked the specificity of the yellow spades and red buckets. And "murder holes" caught me off guard, but then they are castles, aren't they?

Richard

Ravenblack said...

Cindy: I'll be back to visit yours regularly as well.

mindlovemisery, abthomas, blackswanpoetry: thanks for your comments. :)

Mr Walker: yes I think we were trying to make castles, but none too impressive only with our basic plastic tools. :D

Anonymous said...

Beautiful piece love a day at the beach.. Great use of words :)

Ravenblack said...

Thank you, tinkerbel. :)

Anonymous said...

Being a beach girl, I have the same memories... They are a good exercise for all the collapsed castles of life!

Liz Rice-Sosne said...

This is very special ... an adult imbuing these words so vividly with the feelings of childhood. Thank you.

Liz Rice-Sosne said...

Oh ... I nominated this poem for The Thursdays Rally Poet Award.

Ravenblack said...

seabell: Yes they are. I remembered how we would never feel discouraged, and just do it all over again whenever we could get to the sandy playground or beach. :) Thanks for your thoughts.

Old Raven: I miss that bit of childhood a little. :) And thanks a lot for the nomination!

Anonymous said...

The six-year-old in me loved this poem! I did too :)

sweet pea. said...

this almost reminds me of my brick wall writing. almost.
i like it a lot.
and thanks for your comment =)

Ravenblack said...

Teric: Thanks. :)

sweatpea: yes, I see what you mean. It is, almost. :) Thanks for coming by.

Anonymous said...

:)
hah

Anonymous said...

Amazing piece and I love your transition in the stanzas, like from "over and over". What wonderful memories, thank you for sharing and painting this canvas of words! :)

Ravenblack said...

Thank you, Leonargo. Appreciated your comments. :)

Anonymous said...

a nice recollection of childhood... pails of danger red ;) -robin

Anonymous said...

a nice piece of poetry, nostalgic indeed :)

Ravenblack said...

Thanks for your comments, Robin and Jeanie.

dsnake1 said...

Hi!

i remembered these playgrounds with sand when i was staying at bukit merah. the kids just loved these places.

lovely post. :)

Ravenblack said...

Thanks dsnake.

Playgrounds with sand are becoming scarce in neighborhoods. The padded mat ones are safer and cleaner, but sand was more fun.