Thursday, October 24, 2013

OctPoWriMo Day 24 prompt: Go back and go back again

Today's prompt is to go back to age eight and explore who we were, and what our dreams were. When I think of myself at eight, what I remember most is that it was one of the last years of childhood. Dreams? I had so many, but what I really wanted was to be free to explore the world, both inner and outer. Paradoxically, I also wanted to remain a child. When I was nine and on the cusp of adolescence, I wanted to go back to being eight again forever.

~~~

Eight

When I was eight
I was a monkey
who could scramble
through trees and
hang upside down.

I was a ballerina,
strong and graceful,
wearing sequins and tulle.

I was an unbreakable
tomboy flying downhill
on a bicycle with no
helmet.

I was a painter
and a scientist
and a dinosaur hunter,
a limitless being
sexless and
self contained.

The world had not
yet grasped me. Did not
yet know of me. I hid
and was protected.

When I was eight
I was like the sun,
at the center
reaching out
to the world.

I didn't know
that the world
could also reach in
until suddenly,
it did.


Infinity Single Clip Art
Posted by at

8 comments:

  1. TO TOUCH THE HORIZONOctober 24, 2013 at 8:32 PM

    Adolescence takes away a lot of things from us..mostly the simplicity and finding happiness in the smallest of things. Good one.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ChristineOctober 24, 2013 at 8:37 PM

      Thank you! I am so tickled that you stopped by, as I am a fan of your poetry. As a young girl I dreaded becoming a woman and the restrictions that came with it.

      Delete
  2. Shah WhartonOctober 25, 2013 at 7:36 AM

    I loved the innocence and joy and freedom I felt while reading this. It's the polar opposite of mine, for one thing, so I understood the last part more...

    http://shahscribbles.wordpress.com/2013/10/25/octpowrimo-2013-new-year-expectations-poem/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ChristineOctober 25, 2013 at 9:20 AM

      Thanks! Childhood is often viewed as a time of innocence, and it can be, but it can also be complicated and scary.

      Delete
  3. UnknownOctober 25, 2013 at 2:57 PM

    this took me back to everything wonderful about eight! That whole gangly, sexless, limitless thing... you caught it all! Fabulous poem...makes me smile...even though it could all turn so bittersweet.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ChristineOctober 25, 2013 at 3:02 PM

      Thanks! That's what I wanted to capture, that feeling of lightness and freedom that we lose when puberty hits. I'd love to be as lithe and bouncy as I was as a little kid!

      Delete
  4. Sonalika ChaturvediOctober 25, 2013 at 4:23 PM

    Now this is what I call original! I LOVE this Christine! Those really were the days when the world didn't know us and we were protected from everything ... We were like little schizophrenics (although I shouldn't say so) because we had a world of our own, blissful and away from the chaos, except that we did grow up and the little schizophrenic bubble burst.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ChristineOctober 25, 2013 at 5:09 PM

      Oh, thank you! That sense of wholeness, and the physical ease of a child's body, is what I recall so fondly. Puberty messes all that up, lol! And then you get used to it an menopause comes along. Can't win I tell ya!

      Delete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)