| InterBoard Poetry Competition | |
RECOLLECTIONS OF CHILDHOOD
Gary Charles Wilkens
(Poets.org)
There was a time when meadow, grove, and stream,
Paper plates and plastic forks
the earth, and every common sight, to me did seem
apparelled in celestial light.
--William Wordsworth
can eat the pork and beans for you.
You won’t be needed.
If you get a hotdog give it
to the Kool-Aid.
The girl’s bike is ok alone.
There are other kids
in the trailer park to ride it.
You don’t have to worry
about the stray cats.
When the kids play in twilight
they won’t miss you.
The gnats will give them
the usual race as the sun
melts into the black trees.
If you go missing
it will be no great loss.
Your mother may even
stay home one more night.
Judge David Biespiel’s comments: “The Wordsworthian conceit is poked in the eye in this poem, & that’s what makes it memorable & astute.”
About the InterBoard Poetry Competition
Archive of IBPC Winners
Honorable Mention, May 2006
