Catch words:

Pledge of Allegiance

Eisenhower

Schwinn

Willie Mays

Sputnik

Hopscotch

Mattel

A-bomb

~

Tumble down stairs ready for school,

Carefree, as I recall, tumble into kitchen

For Frosted Flakes, They’re Great!,

Older sisters already bickering, baby 

Brother yammering in bassinet. I'm six,

Crewcut, a small spring wound tight, ready

For the mass migration to North elementary, 

Kids on foot, on bicycles, girls in skirts 

And saddle shoes, boys in leather zip jackets 

And brown brogues flowing down streets 

And sidewalks with one destination in mind, 

And, as I came to learn, different attitudes

About the destination—for me, a kid

Among kids, on the way to Mrs. Nelson’s

Kindergarten class, it was peaches and cream. 

~

In the poem I write of feeling carefree. The photo suggests I was a bit worried.