Wednesday, August 17, 2011

A Childhood Poem

Do you remember the Cam Jansen book series about a little girl who solved crimes with her photographic memory?  She'd blink her eyes and take "pictures" of things she wanted to remember.  I read her stories as a girl and remember wishing I had a photographic memory, and making a point to soak in the things I wanted to keep—the sound of my mom singing on a Sunday morning at church, the smell of my dad's cologne when he dropped me off after one of his weekends. 

I think that's part of the reason most of my poems are memories.  It may also be why I ended up in Memory Keeping at Hallmark.

I thought it would be appropriate for the first poem I post to be a memory poem.  So, here’s a poem about transitioning from child to adult.




Peninsula at Raintree Lake


I ran away with Black Beauty
to a pine-tree-lined isle
behind my father’s house,
my back against a pine’s trunk. 
Needles stuck through my jeans
and sap glued pages together,
but it was my sanctuary.

I took engagement pictures
between those pines years later—
we leaned against their sturdy trunks,
smiled into our future,
and they shaded a welcome
for our marriage.

I heard they drooped with disease
a year ago and were cut down.
I haven’t returned to see
their remaining stumps surrounded
by weeds and dead needles.
I prefer to imagine them tall,
and me, secure in their shaded shelter.

1 comment:

Sheryl said...

Beautiful, Lindsay! I actually got a little misty-eyed. Looking forward to reading more of your poetry.